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. 🇬🇷🇮🇪🇮🇳🇦🇫🇧🇸🇵🇰🇪🇸🇸🇩🇿🇦🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

You’re saying the quiet part out loud. If you can convince people this is imminent they’ll just vote as a way to counter it.

The flag raisers aren't at all proud of where they live. I noticed some flags up in our town earlier and the scum hadn't bothered to litter pick at the same time.
Spent ages putting stupid flags up and left the litter everywhere.

I clean my own house, and my husband helps too 😁.

To be honest, I think this of hanging the flag up is a good way to find out who has become a zombie, with no longer opinions of their own or the ability to rationalise anything or just have bare minimum common sense.

To remove a flag of a sovereign country in said sovereign soil for no other reason than it may be unsafe ( like maybe hanging too low and can get tangled on large vehicles or wgatever similar readon) is just plain stupid. Common sense is stupid It is a flag, of the land, flying in the land. Leave the flipping flag alone!

Focus on the many many many problems the country has. That we all suffer from. Immigrants and British norn. Not enough doctor appointments, not enough police, education is failing our children, pharmacies do not have some medications, the NHS ison the floor fighting for dear life, the roadsare covered in mini-lakes (former pot holes), the price of baked beans has tripled....... the list is long.....
Whoever has the time to be bothered about a flag! It is time people joins together, in a patriotic way and fight back for what is theirs. They pay for a service that they are not getting. Same shite is happening to the immigrants that work and pay taxes in this country.

I don't understand patriotism at all. Like, not the tiniest bit. I had no control over where I was born, then I was taken to live in another country before I was old enough to have an opinion about it, then spent 17 years explaining my surname to people who spoke a different language and who until that moment had no idea that I was a different nationality to them, then I moved back to the country I was born in and felt like a foreigner for a long time... but this right here? Closest I've ever been to feeling proud to be Welsh. And I absolutely hear "Flags, is it?" in Rob Brydon's voice 😄

Of course I’m only referring to you.

I love multiculturalism. I think it has a huge and positive affect on our society. I don't think it's a punishment but a consequence of our British history

@LittleChopper Thank you, if there is one thing I rail against it is the weaponisation of flags. Fortunately where I live it is unlikely to happen but I have to honest if it did, I would be buying world flags to add into the mix, starting with the EU flag!

Your last sentence is outrageous and epitomises the smug left who looks down on those who take a different view to them.

I was amazed when a nearby town was described as being a “ nice town” at one time by those who used to live their - oops, there - because it’s the opposite now. It’s run down and completely dominated by one ethnic group and yes, crime has gone up. Rather than a lovely melting pot of different ethnicities with a majority white, as it used to be, it’s become a different culture and one ethnicity.

It’s this which protesters and those who keep silent are fearful of and which they personally live alongside. No one wants to be a minority in their own country, no one, and that applies globally.

You can take down flags all you like but that doesn’t stop people having those views. Your DH is right.

It sounds as if numbers are well- managed in your village and I assume migrants have integrated but it’s a different experience for others, hence the strength of feeling.

Er - no. It's not an argument, it's fact. The reason a large number of migrants choose to come to the UK, particularly from ex-British colonies, is because they feel an affiliation towards the UK as they already know the language and have some understanding of the culture. That's a direct legacy of the Empire. It's nothing to do with anyone feeling like a 'victim' or any other kind of value judgement.

I have been told that environmental groups used to be anti-immigrant, the logic being that bringing someone with the energy footprint typical of a third-world resident to the first world would be counterproductive. Not to
mention land/water usage. I always wonder if that was true, never found much evidence either way

In my town the same person who organised the flags also went and cleaned up some rasist graffiti on an underpass.

A lot of people behind the flags aren't racists. But they do feel like there's been a political and media push to make people ashamed of being English. When you take down the flags because you think they are racist and offensive, you are proving their point.

There's got to be room for people to openly love their country and appreciate diversity. That's how i feel. There's loads I love about being English and I'm married to an immigrant, have a mixed race child. And want some sensible immigration controls. And I definitely want a better system for processing asylum claims because the current way isn't working. My asylum seeker friends have been stuck in limbo for years. The stress of not knowing what is going to happen. No money except for the absolute basucs. Not allowed to work. Its a horrible way to live. There's got to be a better way.

I am concerned how little understanding people have of world politics

The causes of a global recession have never been tracked back to migration

The rising costs of oil and energy which have impacted the world severely at different times in history but significant now, have always been the result of political unrest, armed warfare, trade wars, corruption etc.

war in the Middle East and Europe causes refugees to flee and scatter through fear

war in the Middle East causes a rise in the cost of living due to how this impacts on oil prices

I think we have reached a point in history where moral integrity barely exists (not wanting innocent civilians to be tortured and killed in their corrupt countries) and when that is stamped out, it’s the end of civilisation as we know it. 20 years from now this country will not be somewhere even the inhabitants want to live. Once they get rid of human rights you are all fucked

They kicked us out did they? In most cases we just left once it wasn't profitable any more. Which countries actually kicked us out?

Patriotism can and should be trying to do the best for the bit of land you were born in (because that’s the bit you’ve got the power to help improve) and the people who live there.

It shouldn’t mean blind loyalty to that place or the govt of the day regardless of what it does.

And to add… You will probably find that there are many anti immigrants British folk who don’t even own a passport themselves and so this home is all they know and being a patriot would hardly be something they don’t understand. Not being a patriot would seem strange.

Your post will only have been deleted if you broke Mumsnet posting guidelines, which you obviously did.

I hear the number of ‘deaths by flag’ is rising exponentially,

Yesterday I noticed that someone had hung England flags from lampposts outside a permanent travellers/gypsy site near where I live. Whoever did it was obviously making a statement towards the travellers (who are often berated by the far-right). I thought it was a real shame, as that traveller site is never an issue, we all get on fine, it really pissed me off that someone wanted to generate bad feeling.

However, I came past the travellers site this morning (expecting to see the flags torn down), the England flags were still in place in pristine condition! On the lampposts on the other side of the road the travellers had hung Irish, christian, and travellers flags (has a waggon wheel on it). It looked really good!

I think that the travellers have the right idea, don't pull the flags down (unless messy or dangerous), put your own flags up, too! Beat the people that are trying to cause division by creating symbols for acceptance and unity.