to be seriously concerned about the illegal surveillance cameras and flags on lamp posts?

[Kije]

That's it, really. I live in a semi-rural area. No racial tensions locally, that I'm aware of, at all. The local small market town and surrounding roads are covered, and I do mean covered, in illegally posted flags, all over lamp posts - sometimes three deep. They come down (the local council sometimes stirs themselves to take them down) and are replaced within a few hours. It's been like this since late last summer.

And now the same charming people who are trying to intimidate what they like to call 'pathetic lefties' have put up dozens of surveillance cameras on the same lamp posts, aimed in all directions in a clear attempt to intimidate local people who'd like to take the flags down. The mob who do the flags have said on their own FB site, it's to 'protect their property' (eg the flags they've illegally stuck up lamp posts, it's essentially littering). The obvious take-home is, they think this is their town and they aim to create a chilling effect for anyone who dares to discuss this on local social media, or take the flags down again.

The flags are illegal: the cameras doubly so, I'd have thought, given privacy laws?? Or at least, I'm assuming surveillance cameras mounted on public property and aimed at pedestrians and drivers have to be done by a legitimate authority.

I look at what was happening in Belfast (and elsewhere) last night and honestly, I'm terrified for our country. We seem to be sliding into lawlessness and vigilantism, and blatant intimidation of anyone who speaks out against it.

Because they are designed to be intimidating.

Ignoring the fact that cameras probably have lettering on them and that flags certainly fall within this for now, it's also illegal for any infrastructure to overhang the highway without consent under Section 178 of the same Act.

Fuck me.

Everything.

Do you?

Do you see them flown from lampposts?

Tommy's been busy in Russia this week.

https://bylinetimes.com/2026/06/10/revealed-the-russian-neo-nazi-network-pushing-white-lives-matter-division-in-britain-promoted-by-tommy-robinson/

But you can’t just imply whatever you like into statute. A camera with lettering on doesn’t make it a sign. A car with its model written on the back doesn’t make it a sign. You’re not legally trained, are you? This is typical of the armchair types - they think they can stretch statute to mean whatever they want it to mean, when there are very tight principles around interpretation to stop that from happening.

As far as I am aware there are no laws preventing the mounting of cameras in public spaces. This is probably because it would be very difficult to police, due to Ring doorbells, dash cams, and those wildlife/weather cameras people like to install to monitor animals and so on. There are of course laws around fly tipping and dumping vehicles, that kind of thing, but I can’t think of anything off the top of my head that would cover this type of act. They can of course just take the cameras/flags down as they’re fixed to public property, but that doesn’t make it a criminal offence per se. And if the cameras were inherently hateful (eg posters with racist or homophobic messages), that would give rise to a separate offence. But cameras are not in themselves explicitly communicating anything menacing.

If any other legals around here want to correct me then I’m happy to be corrected!

But it is not culturally normal in the UK to fly our flag from a private residence and certainly not from a lampost.

We've always laughed at the Americans flying flags in their backyards. And we shudder when we see ostentatious displays of nationism.

Patriotism is fine. But our patriotism has always been quiet and understated.

Our national symbols live on tea towels and bunting.

Why do you think this is just about VWAG? Nobody said it was. Thats just one of the major impacts of mass immigration from the list of countries highlighted last night by the BBC report.

Btw you appear to have misunderstood the meaning of a strawman argument - you certainly haven’t used it correctly.

If these people of foreign nationality like England enough to settle here why would they be intimidated by our flags?

Woukd you feel intimidated by Welsh flags if you settled in Wales? They’ve got history of being hostile to English immigrants from time to time.

Would you feel intimidated by Australian flags if you settled in Australia? Should we ban all English flags so as not to upset non English?

It’s such a mad situation that (presumably) English people are actually upset about English flags in behalf of non English people. The ultimate left wing self flagellation.

What’s the difference in hanging it up as bunting or from a town hall, and then in a window or similar? Does the message change according to where it is being flown?

Do you have any issues with Scottish or Welsh nationalism or is it just the English version?

Rural areas are hot beds for racism though

That’s weird and a bit creepy. Our surveillance culture is really getting out of control.

Keep pressing your local councillors , they should be removing flags from lamposts and other public property

11 degrees and pissing down, here. I'd call that shitty weather.

Can you be more specific? Did you actually listen to it or do you ‘just know’?

How?

What is VWAG?
I'm aware of the acronym VAWG - Violence Against Women and Girls, but not VWAG. Does this mean something else?

No. I’m tired and got the letters the wrong way round.

I don’t have an issue with any of them. St George’s cross is our flag because he was the personal patron saint of Richard the Lionheart, Edward III and, probably most significantly, Henry V at the Battle of Agincourt, after which he became a popular saint across the whole country. For me, because all these flags are found within the Union Jack, the cross of St George by itself is most strongly associated with church steeples and football / rugby, which the different nations play against each other. And, as an aside, as a pretty good amateur dress and costume maker, you can’t beat the Union Jack for cutting into pieces for cool sewing projects. It’s so much better than mere stripes or even the Stars and Stripes.

I am legally trained as it happens, not that I'm purporting to give legal advice here. That section doesn't just refer to signs. I have also linked to relevant data protection guidance and other sections of the Highways Act. It's all going to be fact dependent whether it applies to the case in question but if the council wanted to take action it seems to me there are various grounds on which they'd have a fair case. Not that they really need one to take the equipment down.

Hopefully the supermarkets will run a special on Stella lager too

You have just named 3 completely separate statutes and regulations. You can’t cite them and say something is illegal because ‘they deal with stuff a bit like that’, you have to pinpoint the section of statute or statutory instrument that explicitly forbids whatever it is you’re saying is illegal.

So - where precisely does it say that cameras, or a general category that could include cameras, are illegal to install in public or on a public highway?

The message absolutely does change depending on where the flag is flown.

Go to France and you will see lots of flags flying proudly, properly raised on flag poles outside town halls. In our town we've had some cheerful bunting properly strung along the High Street to mark special occasions.

Seeing a tatty flag of St. George sellotaped halfway up a lamppost has the opposite effect on me. It looks dingy. As for spray painting roundabouts, where's the respect for the flag? I also include flags painted on pedestrian crossings in this. It seems very odd to me that some consider it a mark of respect to walk or drive over something so symbolic.

And don't even get me started on how dangerous it is to do these things.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c74ww90v9gyo

And Scottish flags are starting to be used in the same way, yes. The symbolism is not always so obvious as these things are always context specific but exclusionary nationalism is not an exclusively English pursuit, and most of us know a threat when we see it, despite the faux naivety on here.