Thirty-nine flags line the lamp posts of Saxton Road and its side courts – mostly Union Jacks, with a few St George’s Crosses. Only one lamp post has been missed.
Today many of them are wet, clinging to their posts. I could wait for better weather to capture them as I saw them yesterday, when they made a fine display.
There are also the usual flag displays in back gardens, proudly shown along the road. So there are a lot more than thirty nine.
It is sad that this flag flying is often linked to far right groups who champion Tommy Robinson and are absolutely intolerant of anyone who has a different view to them.
Whats the event?
Royal Birthday?
A Day of National Significance?
I can’t think of anything particularly special.
How about proud to be English and British, Tim, or isn’t that allowed?
Of course it’s allowed. But the people putting up these flags would have you believe it isn’t.
Genuine question – what parts of British life, culture and history should be proud of? And how should we celebrate them?
I think it is a good thing that people want to recapture our British identity. For too long it has been implied that to be English or British was something not to be proud of. How can we expect people to have confidence in British goods and service if our British identity has been suppressed.
Absolute nonsense, Janet. Fallen for Reform lies hook, line, and sinker.
To a lot of people the English flag represents skin heads, the BNP, football hooligans and the like. It’s also been a historic symbol of repression.
It’s unclear if the current craze of flag raising (someone’s making money from it) is patriotism or disguised racism but it’s clear that is causing division rather than uniting the public
If that’s the case Colin, then as many of us as possible, who are not skin heads, BNP or football hooligans, should fly both flags to help claim it back. Also, please tell me which country in the world doesn’t have something to be shamed of in its past. I bet they won’t hate their own flag, like the English/British are suppose to.
In the US many houses display the stars and stripes. Ad mentioned it’s a shame about the association with right wing bodies but I think this is more the Union flag than the English flag.
I wonder what % of flag supporters also voted to leave EU for the sunny uplands
Bob the fish, how about the steam engine, penicillin, television, the jet engine or the world wide web.
Steve 2
Fair points but they were invented by people who just happened to live in this country (or in the case of the WWW – Switzerland),
So it’s not so much the actual inventions, but Britain’s ability to foster innovation we should be proud of?
Thomas Newcomen (steam engine) English, Alexander Fleming (penicillin) Scottish, John Logie Baird (television) Scottish, Sir Frank Whittle (jet engine) English and Sir Tim Berners-Lee (www) English.
Lut us not forget the Welsh and lrish :-Philip Vaughan (ball bearing) Welsh and Francis Beaufort (beaufort scale) lrish.
All brilliant people who just happened to live in the same country as us? Why does flying a flag from a lamp post help remember them and foster the spirit of innovation for future generations?
Sorry, that should have been “let” not “lut”.
Flying a flag on your own property is fine, local authorities flying flags on public buildings and more widely to celebrate national events is also great. But, illegally (and sadly sometimes dangerously) attaching flags to public property – seemingly to create some sort of hostile environment – is not acceptable and just ends up creating division and public expense to take the things down
Why does it create a hostile enviroment Iain?
I think it’s fairly obvious Steve. I’m no less British than you are and have no issue with the flag when used in normal situations. But as an intelligent fellow you well know how the flag is currently being hijacked by populist groups to create a divisive atmosphere which there is no place for in our inclusive society.
Spot on Iain.
I have always thought that one of the better things about being British was that (unlike, for, example, the USA) we don’t feel the need to make a great fuss about flag-waving (or raising).
I am sure that a good number of Scots are not so keen on the Union Flag/Jack with its imposition of St George and St Patrick over St Andrew. And the Welsh have no apparent place in the flag at all.
Given that St George was a Middle-Eastern mercenary, I find some of the current nationalist fervour rather amusing.
And as for making Jerusalem or Rule Britannia replacement anthems, the matter is beyond laughter.
Jerusalem verse 1: answer, No. Jerusalem verse 2: answer, Fetch them yourself.
Rule Britannia: outdated imperialism, now seen in POTUS Trump – God help us!
I am grateful for all that I have received from this country, but that does not require any flag from me.
Two years ago I drove down a small terraced street in Belfast. There were Union Jacks and Ulster Red Hands at every house. I felt incredibly unsafe.
PPJS – I drove down Saxton road with flags in every lampposts and felt very unsafe
You are right, lain, about the flag being hijacked by populist groups. I also remember, the same as ppjs, a time when this country didn’t feel the need to do a lot of flag waving and l wish we were still like that. There use to be something special seeing flags flown, for example, on Royal occasions or big national sporting events.
Yup – agree with you both on that. When England (or Scotland) do well in world cups or when Andrew gets prosecuted,, I’ll be putting up some flags – but only on my own property.
If its such a good thing……why do they have to be put up under cover of darkness
That back garden look hilarious, but it’s the individual’s right to do it. Not so much putting flags on council owned property and forcing them to spend money on removal.
Funny how this ‘protest’ never happened 2010 – 2024.
Added to which the flags are distracting to motorists. I rarely drive but a few weeks ago I did and on approaching the “Tesco roundabout” (having come off the A34) was so distracted by the flags flying there (which I had not seen before) that I almost drove into another car ! Yes, I know that I should have been paying “due care and attention” but my distraction is an illustration of why the UK Govt discourages notices/banners/notices being tied onto street signs/lights ie the the signs are put up for a specific purpose and anything else diminishes that purpose……..
It’s a shame that our flag is being being hijacked by unsavoury elements with the tacit approval of the gullible.
One of the good things about being British is that we’ve never wrapped ourselves in flags and we fly them on special occasions.
A few years ago, our Town Council did display flags as part their summer celebrations and that looked really good, and the motivation was to brighten our Town up in the summer. If you look at the people who are pushing the current campaign to fly flags, most of which of course are made in China and simply attached to street lights with cable ties, I suspect their motives aren’t anything to do with brightning the town up but rather a political gesture to hijack my flag to create division.
Like I say, my main objection remains the whole thing is just not British.