To be devasted the roundabout in my town has a crappy 'flag' painted on?

[Liesmorelies]

I nearly threw up when I saw it this morning - what a horrible shock.

It's a very small town in the Midlands near a city. Yes it's ex-mining but does reasonable ok now, not deprived eg no contextual offers for my dc for uni, but not massively desirable or trendy. Has a Labour MP now but hasn't always in recent years. Voted for Brexit but only just. In 2019 more people voted against Tories AND Brexit than for them - split the vote so we still got a Tory, but still.

In other words, I did not expect this. It's horrible - looks ugly and badly done even before you get started on the thinking behind it. AIBU to ring the council on Tuesday and ask when they are going to deal with this vandalism?

I did a four hour round-trip on the motorway today too and the amount of flags on bridges was shocking - just make it stop.

Nothing says patriot more than a graffitied roundabout

Whatever you do don't go near Ireland on St Patrick's Day, I fear you'd faint. Irish flags, country colours and pride for where they are from.

Why have you been conditioned to be offended by the sight of your own national flag?

Bet you wouldn’t mind if it was a Palestinian flag instead.

I don’t approve of vandalism, it will need to be repaired by the council at a cost, I’m concerned at this display of ‘patriotism’ because it has an underlying criminal edge to it, but I’m not offended by the cross of St George, or the Union flag.

You know perfectly well that the present flag flying isn't about patriotism.

Our local village has them everywhere along with a load of banners saying no to small boats and illegal immigrants and talking about protecting our kids.

I found it disquieting actually. That and the sudden influx of flags in smaller hamlets and villages. It doesn’t signify anything good.

And are you talking about the Union Jack which is the national/royal flag or the St George flag, which frankly has dodgier connotations as most are aware?

People saying it’s just patriotism and isn’t it nice are missing a big point. This is part of an operation organised by a far right group and they are everywhere (not my town thankfully). The rise of the far right should make everyone feel nauseous.

I assume we’ll be paying for the graffiti to be removed from the roundabouts, it looks a mess.

Not sure, do you?

Yep. And the same people who did the painting will be complaining about their council tax going up, come spring '26.

@Liesmorelies What do you think of all the Palestinian flags of Ukrainian flags being flown do they make you want to throw up or is it just the English flag

Is it the same village as mine? Very close to a petrol station?

I felt the same when I saw it. They can’t even paint straight lines, it would be laughable if it wasn’t so depressing.

I mean they look shit.

But fuck me, you're making yourself sound like a drama llama on steroids.

'Devastated'

'Nearly threw up'

Okey dokey.

@PrivateMusic I don't mind people flying flags on their own property, whatever they are (within reason, obviously) but vandalism is not ok. And flags, flying or painted, springing up everywhere in the context of all the anti-immigration rhetoric prevalent at the moment is a very worrying and unpleasant phenomenon. When most people fly the Palestinian flag they are usually doing so to show support for a people enduring enormous suffering. The people slapping the St George's cross around the place are, as has been explained, marking their territory and giving the message 'England for the English.' It is not the same.

Dodgier connotations?

You’re not wrong, OP. This obviously not about patriotism.

Absolutely.

So these flags seem to be popping up everywhere. All I've done is walk to the post box today and I've now seen seven in a distance of 200 metres. Six of them are new and one household always flew one.
I don't doubt that lots of them are being flown as an anti asylum seeker pro reform type statement. And that's fine. People are allowed to vote reform and protest against asylum seekers. It doesn't make them racist or stupid. If you honestly can't see why people feel so desperate that they are doing this, then you are part of the problem.

The flags themselves may be innocuous; but it feels like the thin end of the wedge, and slogans might start appearing alongside them as well, as well as other homages to Uncle Nigel. I saw one which was pro-Trump. Perhaps I need to

The flags which really annoyed me were the ones which said "thank you NHS", in 2020. There was a certain irony when they appeared on the (forcibly closed) churches: it was like a new religion, kneel and worship the NHS.

Kier is that you?

It does make them racist and stupid.

So, stereotyping a country’s people, based on one post? Feels a little xenophobic to me OP. What other people would refer to in the terms ‘xxxx people always have to play the victim’?

It's funny you should mention Ireland. When I went to NI to Belfast, one of the most striking things I saw, which I hadn't known about before, was the lampposts painted with the union flag or the Irish Tricolour, depending on the area. It was interesting but also shocking to realise that areas had to marked and defined in in that way. It's not exactly a positive step that we are taking. Certainly the guide we had in Belfast didn't really speak with pride of the painted lampposts.

OP is as performative as the flag painting.