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.

What do the police say/do when you report these masturbating men?

My wife is an black African migrant. A 'flag' has been badly spray painted onto the roundabout outside our flat. She is genuinely intimidated by this.

It's a shame the OP is being disingenuous at best and pretending they can't rell the difference between the two uses of the flag.

I don't know why people keep bringing up Spain. Do they not know that General Franco used the Spanish flag as propaganda against the separatist regions? Catalonia has its own flag for a reason.

Devastation and nausea over a bit of paint? Eh? I think the flags look tacky as hell, and do seem to represent something pretty bloody sinister, but come on.... Drama much?

for your wife as intimidating thugs don't speak for all of us White British.

This is how I feel, too, and am equally reluctant about it, and have also taken many years to reach this point of view.

You clearly can’t back up your claim so have resorted to childish insults. What a surprise.

As soon as people get on to https://www.fixmystreet.com to report these the council will have to respond. You can be quite descriptive of the people who've done the vandalism too!
Also FOI requests to councils to ask them about the cost to taxpayers, and what their responses will be to graffiti. Especially if you live in a Reform area.
Or an email to your local MP to ask their view on people breaking the law. Or do they have a two tier approach to lawbreaking? Again, esepcially interesting if it's a Reform or Tory MP- the supposed parties 'of law and order.'

Oh but I can.

https://www.facebook.com/share/16uy4YSrJ4/

I know but the poster I was responding to said he saw someone defacing a roundabout who shouted racist abuse at a woman and child. I asked if he'd reported the incident.

Thank you. I stand in solidarity with you and your family. My partner is muslim and while I do not believe I respect his faith and he respects my beliefs too.

Something most of England could learn a thing or two from. I live in Lancashire, there is a large Muslim population - he lives in a large town but both mine and his towns have a huge diverse range of ethnicities.

I agree by hiding who you are is bowing down to them. There are many people who are not racist in our areas and who support them. Your kids need to see that their identity as Muslims should be respected and not hidden.

I wonder if all these 'non-racists' on here will be going to their local 'visit my mosque' days in october aimed at supporting and developing bonds within the community. I suspect not.

In my own there is an event today about supporting our diverse area and breaking down barriers. It is a family event where we all go and bring food and games and the kids of all ethnicities play and have fun with displays and crafts and entertainment on. So there are some areas like mine who are trying to support the non-racists and develop that cohesion within town. It is a lovely atmosphere and my partner is down there with his children now.

You are welcome to PM me if you wish and I will share more.

The economic crisis in this country is terrible. We are the 6th largest economy in the world and yet we have a third of people living in poverty. No one would argue otherwise. It’s a scandal.

BUT I can assure you that the cause of this is not immigration. It is complex and multifaceted and you are being distracted. Sorry.

And I am astounded at this comment of yours:

“media narratives constantly take the pro immigration stance”

This is so far from reality I’m honestly amazed you said it. Just goes to show how our algorithms are working.

But fair enough. I hear what your worries are and I half agree. I just do not agree with placing the blame in one small area.

If a painting of the national flag of the country you live in makes you want to throw up, you really really need to have a good hard look at yourself and understand how you have become so brain washed by people using social media and MSM to get people to hate their country, you need to educate yourself about divide and conquer tactics. You need to educate yourself about the risks of the breaking of society.

Go to almost any other country on the world and you will see national flags.

I would suggest you and those similarly inclined step away from social media and the BBC/Guardian and start engaging with critical thinking,

Your empty virtue signalling is concerned to those of us who still engage our brains

If a painting of the national flag of the country you live in makes you want to throw up, you really really need to have a good hard look at yourself and understand how you have become so brain washed by people using social media and MSM to get people to hate their country, you need to educate yourself about divide and conquer tactics. You need to educate yourself about the risks of the breaking of society.

Go to almost any other country on the world and you will see national flags.

I would suggest you and those similarly inclined step away from social media and the BBC/Guardian and start engaging with critical thinking,

Your empty virtue signalling is concerned to those of us who still engage our brains

I'll keep repeating the below reply in response to the faux naive 'I went to a cute village in xyz on holiday and they had flags up everywhere and I can't understand why that's different to a fat Reform voting drunk chav waving a St.George's cross' point:

Flags in Scandiavia and Germany are not used by the Far Right to intimidate asylum seekers. Thugs and chavs don't stand outside asylum seeker accommodation in these countries literally with the their flag wrapped around their bare shoulders trying to burn down hostels with asylum seekers alive inside.
That's what happened last summer in England.

As an interesting historical aside, my grandma and great aunt went to Berlin in the late 1930s and even attended/got chaperoned to some sort of Nazi rally as young, naive tourists whilst learning German after leaving school, and did see flags being used in the same way these thugs are misusing the St.George's flag now.

For the love of all things unholy, it's not the flag, it's the sentiment behind the current co-ordinated displays and the people who are orchestrating them.

Why am I even bothering?

It's not vitual signalling to find racism appalling.
It's not hating your country to hate racism.
I'm intelligent enought to understand that national symbols can be hi-jacked by the far right to intimidate others. That's what is happening now.
The 'raise the colours' movement has well documented links to the far right.

Why am I even bothering

Exactly, it's pointless. It was even established upthread "don't care" by one.
It's not that people don't know, they just don't care.
Either agree with any racism behind it all, or would rather look the other way and pretend it's not happening.

Yes- “media narratives constantly take the pro immigration stance”

Someone clearly hasn't looked at the DM!

No drama if you’re not the one being targeted by the implied message. If you are, it feels quite different, I would imagine. As a very assimilated white person (lived here for over 40 years) I can choose to walk on by. My multi-cultural family, not so much. I worry about by teenage children and the environment this creates for them - my son already gets enough grief just for existing and being brown. This does not help.

And for those saying it’s not about racism - I am the immigrant in my family, but I am white. My brown husband and children were all born here but they are the ones impacted, not me.

👏👏

Or perhaps you could link to the policy documents you've mentioned so people can read them and understand what you're talking about instead of insulting posters asking questions about something that they've never heard about