Flags..

[Elephant9]

Just a chat to understand what’s going on with the influx of England and UJ flags all over the streets?

thoughts?
where did it stem from?
is it making you uncomfortable? (It is, me, but not entirely sure why)

I think it’s fine. I saw a video of Nottingham Council unveiling a huge England flag on a building recently, and it looked glorious. People were cheering and I felt my emotions stir a little. I feel like our country has been derided a lot over recent years and it makes a refreshing change to see people expressing pride in the UK and England.

I think it speaks volumes about a country when you can’t actually celebrate your national flag and it is more acceptable to fly the flag of an Islamist regime than your own country emblem. I don’t live in the UK now and where I live (and other countries I’ve lived in) the national flag is flown with pride. The country is broken and I blame the far left and the far right.

The trouble is that even when the government does do something about immigration, it won't be enough for Farage and the foreign powers funding him. There are 200 fewer hotels, and a system set up with France. They're trying, and every government will be constrained by courts.

There is no quick solution, immigration is actually very important and a benefit when managed properly and it's been made 100× harder with Brexit. Farage (and Trump, who is without a shadow of a doubt whispering in Farage's ear) wouldn't be happy unless every last migrant is expelled.

But of course I don't think Farage actually really gives a shit about immigration. He cares about lining his own pockets and helping out Trump and Putin with whatever their plans are for power and domination. A nation divided is far easier to control.

We are well on the way to getting Nigel as PM going by the latest FON poll which is showing support for Reform at almost double the support that Labour has. I’m expecting the support for Labour will drop further by a significant amount after Reeves delivers the Autumn budget statement. No tax rises on working people they said during their election campaign. Really?

I laughed at the US when they elected Trump.
We might get Nigel though.

But isn’t it about more than immigration? I still
follow uk politics closely and have a lot of friends/family there - people are fed up of what feels like a broken society - nothing works, councils bankrupt, water companies flooding rivers with sewage, the NHS, crumbling schools - this is about more than anti immigration

I haven’t noticed any flags around our way. We lived in the US for a few years and flew a union flag from our porch with pride. However since we’ve been back in the UK we have had it out for VE Day and the coronation but that’s it. It’s a shame but I would feel very uncomfortable displaying it all the time here.

I think unless they are causing an issue, like traffic management etc, they should be left. Removing them just causes more resentment amongst those who have placed them in the hope of causing unrest and further cements the association between the flag and racism.
Dilute the message instead, start flying them everywhere, from schools ,churches, government buildings, make them so common they become background noise and removed from the message they were hoping to send.

And I have flown a flag, for the Euros. Got my face painted and everything. But it's the intention. It's certainly intimidating when painted on the side of shops by a bare chested bloke shouting 'raghead' at a Muslim mother and child. What it says is 'we don't like foreigners' and you won't convince me otherwise.

If you really are proud of this country you'd be proud of the immigration that has shaped it, from the Normans, to Windrush, to the empire and commonwealth which both caused a massive emigration to other places and encouraged immigration to the 'motherland'

I love having 100 different cuisines on my doorstep. I'm proud of the children of immigrants and refugees that I teach, who love football and want to YouTubers just like every other child in the country. I love seeing people of all backgrounds at festivals and street parties, and sporting events.

Maybe if the flag meant 'I'm proud of this country and everyone who has made it, I'd be behind it. But it doesn't.

I like seeing them :)

Could one of the “we’re just flying the flag out of national pride-don’t understand why it could possibly upset anyone”people explain why now?

Union Jacks and St George’s crosses are going up on lampposts across the UK. The Daily Mail called those behind it an “army of patriots.” But the truth is very different.

While there is nothing wrong with flying the nation’s flags, HOPE not hate can reveal that the key organisers behind much of this activism are hardened and extreme far-right activists.

Organised under the banner of “Operation Raise the Colours”, the co-founder of the group is Andrew Currien (AKA Andy Saxon).

Currien is a longtime Tommy Robinson ally and former English Defence League bodyguard. He was jailed for his role in a racist death in 2009.

Currien now works security for Britain First and boasts of supplying 1,000 flags in the last 24 hours to groups in: Wolverhampton, West Bromwich, Worcester, Dudley, Stourbridge
and Staffordshire.

In Nottingham, the group is led by Robinson’s associate, Guramit Singh. He served prison time after he and two accomplices tied up a shop assistant and threatened to slash his throat in an attempted robbery. He now fronts the Predator Hunter series for Robinson’s Urban Scoop.

Britain First itself claims to have provided 75% of the flag stock for teams in Manchester and the West Midlands. Its leader, Paul Golding, bragged: “Most of the flags in this photo are now on lampposts and bridges in Manchester and Birmingham!”

Football hooligan groups are also being encouraged to join in. Numerous “firms” are known to have raised flags in their local areas.

To be clear: there is nothing wrong with flying the Union Jack or St George’s cross. It’s not illegal to be proud to be English or British.

But when convicted criminals, Britain First and Tommy Robinson’s allies are the organisers, we should all be asking questions about what this wave of activism is really about.

https://hopenothate.org.uk/2025/08/22/operation-raise-the-colours-organised-by-well-known-far-right-extremists/?fbclid=IwdGRjcAMdS69jbGNrAx1LnGV4dG4DYWVtAjExAAEeiNcxTDoDw89PbZBA_jeNsFIzQ1Sj_gqFdNNW5zzdXHhGnenVqT4iG5vyb9E_aem_huTNDs27iYun2Z2DXZCNHQ

All the things you listed are failures of extractive capitalism and the search for endless growth.

Yet people seem to want to vote for even more extreme oligarch capitalists in the shape of Reform UK. They have cunningly and expertly convinced the definitely rational and obviously highly educated average British voter that immigrants caused all their problems.

Just innocent national pride isn't it? Major improvement to the area. Perfect use of the flag we are all suddenly so proud of. Looks lovely...

I completely agree you and before anyone starts with the 'the country needs immigration to boost the economy and what about all the NHS staff and engineers etc', controlled skilled immigration is not the issue and people have no problems with this. What we are unhappy with is the sheer volumes of uncontrolled, illegal immigration with tens of thousands of undocumented young men arriving in the country who we know nothing about or their criminal records.

Yawn. As if there aren't already 50 other threads you can read. Disingenuous OP.

If you know of illegal migrants - what happens when you report them to the police?

Let’s hope all these patriots turn out for VE Day, VJ Day, Remembrance Day…

And support the Lionesses, the Women’s Rugby team…

I must have missed this whole saga but why would seeing the flag of the country you live in make you uncomfortable that’s just utterly barmy.

You do understand that 96% of immigration is legal and only 4% is what they call "irregular"?

I don't really care what you call it. There needs to be stricter criteria for entering the country.

I don't think Nigel is going to fix immigration. His big idea was to fix it with Brexit and that, as widely predicted by "project fear," has backfired horribly!

Sorry-I don’t believe you.

Well it’s better than the leftist useful idiots waving Palestinian flags supporting anti Semitic terrorists