I took down some flags and DH wasn’t happy

[LittleChopper]

On my commute today, I noticed someone had hung three large St George flags on a bridge coming out of our village. They have been popping up everywhere but this particular instance I thought “I’m not having that”. On the way home I pulled over and took them down.

when I got home and DH asked why I was binning three large flags I told him and he.. had some interesting opinions. He told me I shouldn’t be pissing off people in the village, that they have every right to hang an England flag in England, and that I’m being too political.

For a start, I would argue that I’ve always been quite strongly opinionated so he shouldn’t be surprised I did it.

Just as others have the right to their opinion I have mine. We have people in the village who are migrants… why should they have to look at that. It’s clear why they were hanging there given what’s going on at the moment and I’ve never see a flag hanging in the village in the decade we’ve been here so why else would they be there now.

I’m just so disappointed with it all. With the UK, with DH.

Next time maybe I’ll add to the collection instead. 🇬🇷🇮🇪🇮🇳🇦🇫🇧🇸🇵🇰🇪🇸🇸🇩🇿🇦🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Thats because posters are agreeing with her actions. Nothing weird about it.

Flegs.

I travel across Ulster (in the historic sense) roughly once a year, mostly seeing relatives, and am used to seeing flegs on the street lights proclaiming Britishness in NI. They are a mix of Union, the NI one with a hand on a St George, and what I assume to be Orange Order linked ones. They are more in towns. Then I cross into Donegal and they are behind me but there are Green-White-Orange Tricolours here and there (as there are in NI).

Work took me to Hertfordshire recently and it's like NI again, but especially at roundabouts.

It's a form of territory marking. And an expression of insecurity and fear of being ignored and forgotten. Plus having access to a cherry picker.

Well done! I’m RIGHT behind you!

I'm noticing some of the flags starting to disappear, especially from the motorway bridges: the quiet backlash is beginning. I'd thought about taking down flags and selling them on eBay, but decided I couldn't be bothered.

The flags remind me of the horrible "social distancing" signs everywhere; indeed, the flags are a form of "social distancing": think about it. I quietly took down lots of signs about social distancing, especially in parks: I thought they were a real blot on the landscape. I did it when it was dark and rainy.

Why are you all so determined to see the UK as racist
We are a tolerant country,many religions and nationalities rub along together quite nicely.
The more you push the agenda we are racist,the more it's a self fulfilling prophesy
But we haven't got the infrastructure to support the pouring in of newcomers at the level it is at ...be that newcomers of any religion or colour
We haven't got the housing the doctors appointments or hospital appointments or dentist appointments for people who are born here ,never mind thousands of newcomers who need houses for large families they wish to bring over .
As much as people would like to ,we can t house the whole world,the UK isn't big enough
Someone somewhere is going to have to say stop ...and that is not racist
And neither is waving a flag
I'm sick of people being down on Britain and British people,we are on the whole a tolerant and welcoming place ,full of kind people.
Stop with seeing everything negative about British people

There was plently of black, brown, migrant people marching on Saturday too - are they also racist? My polish neighbour went to the march!

Who appointed people to put it in a public place (scruffily)?

@AngelicKaty we object to it being co-opted as a racist symbol by the likes of Yaxley-Lennon and Farage and their mindless followers.

Where is the evidence for that, please?

Firstly, I’d need to see proof as I avoided news about that absolutely embarrassing shit show. Secondly, it’s not only white people that are racist. Obviously.

Go look on youtube, its not difficult.

@Coffeeforbreakfast88 You surely can’t be that stupid? I assume just nasty.

When anyone resorts to insults they are showing that they have lost the argument.

Well done you! I drove into a town off the motorway out of london and flags everywhere. It’s dystopian. We ALL know why they are there. I lived on an estate years ago and one family had a flag up. Fine! Wasn’t a problem. Now, it’s a symbol and it’s horrible.

I think sticking flags on lampposts, bridges, erc is rather disrespectful.to the flag.
A proper flag flown high (the right way up) on public buildings and flag poles is respectful.

A TEMU flag stuck, usually upside-down, on a lamp posts, bridge looks tacky and does not honour the flag.

I have a older friend whose DH served in the army for years. When they moved house there was a flagpole and they fly the Union Jack or Cross of St. George on several days of the year. Such as Rememberance Day, D Day, Kings birthday, St. Georges Day lots of others. . Not everyday. It shows respect. They are now reluctant to fly it as they feel it has been hijacked by those who hope to divide the country. They see it as devisive rather than uniting. I have said continue as you have always done.

I met and old Uni friend recently. I had tagged along with DH who was on a course. I got the bus to visit her in a near by town. There were roadworks at the bus stopped outside a scruffy looking garden and on every window of this house was a St. George flag. All the other gardens in the street were pretty no junk or bin bags.
On my return again stopped by temp lights at the same place. Suddenly, people were chatting as several neighbours had put up flags too. They put up pirate flags!
It made people smile.

I feel the urge to do this every time I see an England flag, clearly raised as a symbol of division and exclusion - but I’ve not had the courage. I did see a lovely, multi-coloured Union Jack, with the words “Stop the Racists” beneath. Rather liked that one. Britain IS multi-cultural and richer for it. We have a proud history of immigration. I feel sickened that the English flag, to so many of us, symbolises the far right. I think we need a campaign to reclaim it.

You don’t know that - you are projecting your own prejudices!
Many people want to fly flags for reasons other than being racist: it is possible (and altogether more likely) that people can be both anti-racist AND patriotic, you know!

Oh dear.
Firstly, asylum seekers are not illegal immigrants - they are asylum seekers (they would only be illegal immigrants if their asylum application wasn't approved and they remained in the UK without permission).
Secondly, it is not a crime to claim asylum in the UK, and international law (the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 protocol, which the UK and all other signatories are bound by) does not require asylum seekers to apply for asylum in the first safe country they reach - this is a fallacy perpetuated by the ignorant - and around 71% of asylum applications submitted to the UK are approved.
Thirdly, apart from the three asylum/resettlement schemes set up for Afghanis, Ukrainians and Hong Kong Chinese, there are no safe, legal routes for other nationalities of asylum seekers to the UK. Furthermore, a person must be physically present in the UK in order to claim asylum here (it's not possible to apply from outside the country, and there is no asylum visa) which is why asylum seekers other than the three groups listed above, arrive here by boat across the English Channel - they simply have no choice (just imagine if successive UK governments had allowed them to claim asylum from another country!).
Finally, how anyone can blame asylum seekers for their inability to "get a dentist or GP appointment or afford a normal weekly grocery shop" is beyond me. Please explain.

@nomas If they were serious about bringing about positive change, they would see their MP or protest outside parliament.

A lot of us have done that and they don't listen.

The flags are a fuck you to immigrants because they have lied to themselves that the immigrant next door with the nice car was provided with it for free by the council.

No-one begrudges a person with disabilities a nice (little) car but when they are driving around in Beemers people get a bit hacked off.

The faux naivety of some of these posts is staggering.

There wasn't much risk involved in my coming. They say flying is the safest mode of transport.

Well said.

Everyone knows why they’ve been put up everywhere and what it really means. No one truly falls for the faux naïveté claiming otherwise.

So you can read minds? !

@Onegingerhead great thread but, at the end, you said something about it would be different if you were ultimately forced to leave …? That doesn’t make sense 🤨

So much wide-eyed disingenuous prevarication on this thread from people claiming these flags are a simple expression of patriotism, put up in the spirit of unity and love. Bollocks they are! Stop pretending!

OP well done!

…as is the eagerness of others to put the worst possible spin on any activity that they’ve decided is racist - even when it isn’t!