The council should be taking down England flags in public places?

[fourfoxsakes]

I have driven through a couple of areas in the last few days where England flags are being displayed on public lamp posts, it makes me feel very uncomfortable and unwelcome in the area and I think gosh I’m glad I don’t live here, but why are the council not taking them down?

Get a life at the same time.

I’ve seen groups asking for donations for more flags - cos we’re not scroungers us true Brits, oh no!!
Where I see most flags near to my kids, a different county to me, their CC is leaving them up - though it is a Reform one, hmm.
Different in all places I think - glad yours are going.

I'm not a Reform supporter but it's obviously not "far right". I thought everyone agreed these days that labelling people or parties far right when they weren't has meant that the word loses its power. Like "nazi". The majority of the country are "far right" now, looking at the polls.

What sort of area specifically supports "far right" parties though? I'm intrigued.

If you watch the Telegraph discussion it will hopefully explain why people have been doing it. I think it's pretty accurate. Quite often I think people tar everyone with the same brush according to their own prejudices which I think is what is happening now.

Remember a lot of people will be older and have family members like grandparents who fought in the war. So waving a national flag doesn't mean for them what you think it means.

I don't know anything about people being pulled off ladders, I'm afraid.

Areas that have a consistent track record of voting for far right parties. Obviously.

I'm not labelling anyone a nazi. I am saying that they are "far right". Many people would agree with me.

As for the polls, no, they don't show that the majority of the country are far right at all. Even in the latest one which seems to be predicting a win for Farage, nearly three quarters of the electorate would support other parties. Support for the far right is growing, undoubtedly. But that doesn't mean that the majority of voters support them.

What areas though? You won't say. I don't know what you are talking about since no far right party is on ballot papers.

And if you mean Reform (which isn't far right) what policies of theirs do you think are "far right"?

Nope

still the people who put the cable ties and flags there who have caused it

although i would agree with you that the cable ties should be picked up wherever possible

So many of the posters are missing the point. It is completely irrelevant whether I love, hate or am completely indifferent to the English flag in general terms. Frankly, that's none of anyone's business unless I choose to share it.

In any case, it is more complex than that. Like most of the nation, I love a flag if it is commemorative (VE/VJ Days), supportive (for, say, a football tournament) or celebratory (Coronation, etc). The reason for the flags being flown at the moment is none of those things. It isn't the flag - if you simply want to have Fun with Flags, knock yourself out - it is the intention and meaning behind it. People who say they don't like these particular flags are commenting on the intention and meaning behind those flags. It is completely disingenous to say you should be able to fly English flags in England (blah, blah, people in the USA, blah, blah) when you know perfectly well in this case said flying is being used as a symbol of a particular view that many others don't share.

When I say 'knock yourself out', I mean on your own property. Do not assume others share your views and don't inflict your views on others in shared public spaces. Do not stick your flags in the neighbourhoods of people a mile away from where you live because you're on some sort of crusade. By doing so you're effectively taking away their freedom of expression and imposing your views on them because I'm pretty sure many people would be nervous about asking for their removal. I'm also pretty sure that the flag putter uppers are the same people bleating about free speech in this country without seeing the irony.

I asked about that because the PP to whom I was replying to said they "hated them".I just wanted to clarify whether she meant the flags or the people that put them up.

Not illegal either. People often put stuff up in public to celebrate events, flyers for missing cats etc. Councils can’t ‘control’ everything, and nor should they.

This is an anonymous forum, I'm not going to share information about exactly where I live.

As for whether Reform is far right, it is widely considered to be so, except by its supporters. You can Google if you want to understand why, but I really can't be arsed to argue the toss about it because I don't believe that you are asking in good faith.

No i hate the fact the places they're mostly put in our town is in the more cultural areas and it's people being racist.

There’s a de minimis-type thing going on there, though. A few missing cat flyers are low on visual impact. Nor are missing cats a divisive topic, likely to cause upset.

I also get the impression that if councils were to enforce a ban on cat posters, the average lost cat owner would respect that. Whereas we all know that one of the reasons councils are not removing flags is that it is likely to lead to more flags or worse. Others have pointed out that this movement is not bothered about whether the community as a whole is happy about what they’re doing.

Well. The truth is that the English flag has been co-opted by a number of fascist groups- so no, it’s not in people’s minds. It has been adopted as a racist symbol and is most definitely being used at the moment to intimidate immigrants, refugees, and people of colour.

The huge irony of course is that the people who really DID fight for our country, and under our flag in the world war the English racists are so keen on referencing, did so against fascism, and would be horrified to see what’s become of our country.

1. It’s the English flag, which has been hijacked by the far right and we need to take it back
2. Look at it as the English Flag, why shouldnt we fly it
3. Take it down and you will simply find more going up so leave them alone and it will all blow over

Righto. Glad you know my life.

I actually though mumsnet was usually a forum of above average intelligence. I'm astounded by the amount of people that genuinely do not know (or use 'not knowing' to hide behind something else), why the flags have been appearing. It's insane!
Honestly, are people that unaware of what's going on?

Isn’t the point that we English should be proud and be able to show patriotism not be ruled by a bunch of wankers who dictate the meaning of the cross even though they are wrong.

it pisses me off that I can’t be English I have to be British but if I was Welsh I could be proud to be Welsh or any other nation on this planet

People just disagree with you. That's all.

Why on earth would you write this to someone commenting that in each country people fly their flag. It’s ok for people on a forum to comment on this, as it’s true. Trying to shut people down is unhelpful.

All countries fly their flag and it’s not unusual.
in France, Italy, any country you go to you’ll see their flag flying. What’s awful is that it’s being seen as associated with racism, that is really sad. If anything we need to take it back and be clear that racism isn’t welcome here, but pride in being a British citizen is.

This subject has been done to death whether you're pro flag or against.
I'm now starting to flag if see or hear that word again it'll be too soon.

And what does it represent ? My Muslim neighbour flew the flag of St George to support the womens’ football. It’s a free country and we should be able to fly the flag without feeling judged.

So please explain what you think we should be doing ? The only way to take back our flag and make it the symbol of our country it once was, is to fly it with pride and take the momentum out of the hands of those who have brought it into disrepute.

Well aren’t you a charmer ? Just because people disagree with you doesn’t mean they are unintelligent.