It’s time to take the flags down

[CrazyCatMom]

I live in a lovely village, reasonably multicultural but majority white British. We do have a couple of refugee families living here (from Ukraine).

In August/September as with most of the country, flags started appearing on lampposts. I can’t stand Tommy Robinson/Reform/EDL types but do believe in freedom of speech so whatever.

but now the flags are faded/fraying, caught in trees, wrapped around lampposts etc and just look shit. I have asked on local pages whether the flag raisers are inclined to maintain them and been shouted down as unpatriotic/told to replace them myself (I have absolutely no intention of doing this). I would take them down tbh, just need a willing assistant with a big enough ladder.

I have written to our Parish Council but been told it is not their place to get involved as it is a political matter - AIBU to think that at some point it becomes a case of just tidying up rather than some grand political flag removing statement?

I agree with you, OP. If you do genuinely want to fly national flags (ideally on your own property or after seeking permission) out of a genuine sense of pride, you should be absolutely at liberty to do so.

However, you would rather assume that, if they were being flown out of genuine pride, the flyers would naturally want to look after them, keep them clean and tidy and remove/replace them when worn out.

It’s not ‘freedom of speech’ to fly flags in public spaces. It’s annoying if councils have to use scarce resources to remove them but they should be removed.

Exactly! When the World Cup is on next year we will fly the cross of St George proudly. I have decorated the village in the past with Union Flags for VE Day/Jubilees/Coronation but we always tidy up after the event has passed!

The ones still remaining locally are of the worst possible quality and have not coped well with the recent poor weather. They are shredded, faded and just clump up, wetly against lampposts looking messy. Official flags flown by the local council are of a quality that can withstand weather and continue to fly when wet, these cheap zip-tied efforts do not.

We had almost exactly the same conversation this morning. Crappy flags, bought from a Pakistani owned business, made in China, imported by a Polish company because we’re so proud to be British we put up flags in the middle of the night and then leave them to become eyesores and litter the place up.

If they’re that proud of our beautiful country, go litter picking in the first instance and keep it beautiful.

Rant over