Should our national flag be allowed to fly?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...tinghamshire-15660275

We have all read reports that we are not allowed to fly the flag, and many have said that such reports are only rumors, circulated by such newspapers as the Daily Mail.

Well it seems in some parts of the country it is true, not reported by the Daily Mail but by the impartial BBC.

[Old Salt]

When and why has it become a crime to show we respect and honour our country and it's (original) values.

Other countries don't seem to have a problem with their history, so who is causing all this hate and discontent in our country, about our history?..............

And yes, I mean those of us in the majority, working hard and paying taxes and keeping twice as many MP's as it takes to run the USA?

I think if we stacked our good results against the bad, we would come out somewhere near the top of the heap.

And increasingly, I am becoming extremely irate about being a voice in the wilderness............
Old Salt

[ummmm]

It's a non story...

[jake-the-peg]

// it's (original) values.//

// a voice in the wilderness............ //

RoFL
(Rolling on the Floor Laughing)

Have you read any posts on AB old Salt

It's *full* of grumpy old so and sos whining about how the world isn't like it used to be!

It's called change - get used to it because it's been happening for thousands of years and for thousands of years people have been sucking their teeth and bemoaning .

Do you seriously not remember people moaning about the youth of today when you were young?

When I was young there was constant wailing about weekly football hooliganism

Oh and "video nasties" corrupting my generation.

Before that it was mods and Rockers

Teddy boys and cut-throat razors

Somehow society survives even prospers despite the thousands of lone voices wailing for the clock to be turned back

[New Judge]

I remember all of what you mention, jake. You're quite right, comments about "fings ain't what they used to be" were just as loud and equally valid (or invalid, depending on your viewpoint) as they are today.

But I don't recall any objections to the Union Flag being flown by anybody, anywhere, at any time. The only comments I heard about the flag being flown was when it was displayed upside down.

[Kromovaracun]

"When and why has it become a crime to show we respect and honour our country and it's (original) values. "

Well, let's be clear - as I said earlier, it's very easy to sensationalise what is essentially one silly decision of a Nottinghamshire council. Much as people seem to enjoy this image, I really don't it's the tip of some Orwellian iceberg.

I should probably also say that I don't really hold much truck with the idea of national pride (though I did when a teenager) and don't place much personal value on flags, so this story may not have the same emotional resonance for me as it seems to with most people.

[Kromovaracun]

"don't it's the "
*don't think it's the

Apologies - this is being written from my rather slow netbook...

[ichkeria]

The arguments made in the film about "Caribbean flags" and EDL headquarters are a bit silly.
Yes this is the UK and there should be no objection to the flag flying, although I have sympathy with the argument that says that it takes away from the impact on "special" occasions.
I suspect that if the gentleman on the council not made the, in my opinion equally silly threat to resign, then this non-story would not have seen the light of day.

[anotheoldgit]

EDDIE51

/// I think the answer is in what the first man interviewed said ''I have to explain to people who come round that this in not the EDL headquarters !'' ///

The EDL wasn't mentioned, that coloured person said " I will have to explain to my friends, no this is not the BNP headquarters".

But is he also getting things mixed up, isn't it the St George's Flag that they are all frightened of?

Blimey don't tell me it is also the Union Flag that causes offence?

How is that in the multi-racial USA, their flag is flown with pride from thousands of flag poles across their country, yet none of their wide mixture of racial groups object?

[Kromovaracun]

"How is that in the multi-racial USA, their flag is flown with pride from thousands of flag poles across their country, yet none of their wide mixture of racial groups object? "

Because of how they conceive identity. This is more of a modern thing, but recent generations of Americans by and large don't see 'American' as being something that belongs to any particular group. Hence 'African-American', 'Italian-American' etc etc. - by and large (there'll inevitably be exceptions), they don't see any contradiction between the two. Ted Kennedy's office, for instance, used to have a huge Irish flag across one wall but he was about as patriotic as the rest of them - they just see them as conjoined.

Obviously you might find a different attitude if you go to the south, but that broadly seems the case in areas that are ethnically diverse.

[Ankou]

""Holme Pierrepont and Gamston Parish Council" I bet the place is full of Muslim extremists."

i live a few miles from holme pierrepoint and i can guarantee it isn't.

"the council had received a number of e-mails about the matter, and had felt that flying the flag all the time would make it lose its significance - so it was decided to only fly it on certain days of the calendar."

perhaps without knowing the demographic of the area - which i happen toknow very well, you have made a vastly innacurrate assumption.

[anotheoldgit]

Old Salt

/// And increasingly, I am becoming extremely irate about being a voice in the wilderness............ ///

Are you referring to AnwserBank or the country?

If you mean AB then yes it does seem that persons who hold views such as you outlined are indeed a 'voice in the wilderness'.

But one should get used to Left-Wing anti-British ABers such as jake-the-peg, with their rude insulting ways.

These playground bullying types, regularly use methods such as this, to try and belittle anyone who hold different views to theirs.

[anotheoldgit]

jake-the-peg

Once again you drag out that old chestnut, that things were just as bad in the 'Good old Days, take for example what you said:

/// Do you seriously not remember people moaning about the youth of today when you were young? ///

No I didn't, because the youth of my day gave very little for our elders to moan about, we did as we were told, we were disciplined and showed respect for our elders.

In my day there was no such thing as football hooligans, there was also no such thing as video nasties, or even video if it comes to that.

/// Before that it was mods and Rockers, Teddy boys and cut-throat razors ///

These were 'kittens' compared with the street gangs of today, with their drugs, guns, and knives, and gang rapes were not even heard of.

Perhaps some did carry flick-knives and cut-throat razors, but the worse they did with them was to slash a few cinema seats, no one stabbed anyone like they do today, because the penalty for doing so was a price too high to pay.

/// Somehow society survives even prospers despite the thousands of lone voices wailing for the clock to be turned back ///

Society survives in such places as Africa, but that isn't the type of existence I would care for, and I cannot see them prospering also, even in this country we can hardly be seen to be prospering at the moment.

Considering your young age, you obviously have very little knowledge of the past, so before you try and belittle others who have, with your rudeness, I say to you get some life experience before you can criticise the past.

Perhaps then some young 'whipper snapper' will be as ignorant and as rude as you to say "you grumpy old so and sos whining about how the world isn't like it used to be".

[ichkeria]

Well, I think jake-the-peg is largely correct, and I speak as one who is not in the first flush of youth, while not yet qualifying as an old git perhaps :-)

And I think AOG you are being a bit paranoid about people's attitude to the flag. I haven't seen a single comment from anyone saying that it should not be flown all year round in Nottinghamshire villages, as everywhere else, if that is what people want, which it seems the majority do. I see Union flags flying around the country wherever I go, for perfectly innocent reasons. It doesn't strike me that there is any problem with it.

[anotheoldgit]

ichkeria

/// I haven't seen a single comment from anyone saying that it should not be flown all year round in Nottinghamshire villages, ///

That is what the whole fuss is about, there are some who do not wish it to be flown.

The black guy for example, he said it should not be flown because it made the place look like the BNP headquarters.

Rather than targeting me, perhaps you should be accusing the likes of him of being paranoid?

[ichkeria]

Sorry, I meant to say "a single comment on this thread", as you had accused the larger number of AB-ers of being unreasonable left wingers. I have already, as have most if not all the respondents to your question, criticised the objections to the flying of the flag in fairly forthright terms. And it seems that the council agrees now too, so common sense has prevailed.
Would you not agree that this story doesn't support your original claim that the British flag can be banned from being flown? If anything the opposite.