More on those bloody flags

After the recent harmless banter around Robert “Honest Bob” Jenrick’s “small flag” and the pathetic over-reaction of the frothing flag-loving Conservatives (see here and here) the highly topical and relevant issue of the flag (not) continues unabated.

First up we have Conservative MP James Wild criticising the lack of a Union Jack in the BBC’s annual report last year …. see here. He unfortunately failed to also observe and comment on the fact that the Conservative Party election manifesto for 2019 is another document which completely failed to include the precious flag. Neither is there a single Union Jack flag to be seen on his own personal website. What kind of patriot are you Mr Wild?

This has now been followed by the announcement by the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport last week that the Union Jack flag should be flown from all UK government buildings every day and that councils will be urged to do the same from their premises …. see here.

Apparently this is necessary as “a proud reminder of our history and the ties that bind us”. 

Alternatively, could it be a misguided Government effort to associate itself with a more overt union-based nationalism to head off growing calls for independence in Scotland and Wales?

Or could it be that all this post-Brexit fetish of flag waving is designed to express the Government’s anti-EU credentials now that Brexit has apparently been "done" and to signify that we have emerged into the post-Brexit world of the sunlit uplands of our glorious future (not).

Perhaps the Government should also fly the Union Jack over all the public buildings such as community centres, leisure facilities, libraries, etc. closed due to their deliberate policy of austerity, over food banks and homeless shelters, over dangerously clad tower blocks, over benefit offices, etc. In fact, over any building to recognise the proud achievements of Conservative Governments since 2010.

The UK has a “world beating” Covid-19 mortality rate and a “world beating” collapse in its economy, the latter exacerbated by the economic illiteracy and self-harm of Brexit (a 75% decrease in food and drink exports to the EU already recorded).

Flying a flag will never replace the need for an ethical, honest and competent Government.

The Government can fly all the flags it wants but this will never cover up its many failings.

It is evident that the greater the doubt about the UK's place in the world the more it seeks to fly the Union Jack flag.

Ever since the humbling of the UK over the Suez crisis, the country’s perception of itself has been a strange mix of nationalist jingoism and extreme insecurity. Those who subscribe to British exceptionalism find it easier to get worked up about the Union Jack rather than recognise the country’s role as a middle-ranking power in the world. 

Actually, Brexit has left the UK sitting in glorious isolation as an island in the Atlantic so even middle-ranking does not describe the country now.

Never mind ….

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