Reform, and the death of the Tory Party

[Pross]

The High Street here has sockets on the buildings for flags. The council mostly fills them with union jacks.
There was one on our place. I hadn't noticed it until I woke one morning to find a flag fluttering outside. I got the ladder out, removed the union jack, unscrewed the socket to prevent a recurrence, and phoned the council to collect their gubbins.

That’s cuz your a traytor

 

[briantrumpet]

They've not quite given up on the racism/antisemitism of Farage yet.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/farr...jean-pierre-activity-7401601760814866432-df1C

But where are the journalists for the £880k house and the Russia links... it ought to be relentless. Maybe if he'd been some sort of chess champion at school it would be different.

 

[All uphill]

The irony is that these goons are conditioning me to hate flags, as I now associate them even more strongly with pure xenophobia.

I'm delighted to see that our Quaker meeting house now has posters showing the Union Jack with the words "Refugees Welcome Here".

I think that's the best approach - showing the flag is available to all of us, not just the racists.

 

[briantrumpet]

I'm delighted to see that our Quaker meeting house now has posters showing the Union Jack with the words "Refugees Welcome Here".

I think that's the best approach - showing the flag is available to all of us, not just the racists.

I should have taken a photo of the poster in the RD&E hospital in Exeter when I was there last week, with the nationalities and flags of everyone who works there - at a guess, it was about 100 flags.

 

[Psamathe]

The irony is that these goons are conditioning me to hate flags, as I now associate them even more strongly with pure xenophobia.

I've felt that way for many years, probably from my feelings about "nationalism" - something I can't get to grips with. I really can't believe people who happen to have been born 25 miles from UK territory are so different or born further away. People are people and tribalism is just a baseless excuse for distrimination. Everybody everywhere is looking for pretty much the same thing yet elements of our society seem to be continually looking for false divisions. Flags seem just a means to reflect that division.

 

[briantrumpet]

I've felt that way for many years, probably from my feelings about "nationalism" - something I can't get to grips with. I really can't believe people who happen to have been born 25 miles from UK territory are so different or born further away. People are people and tribalism is just a baseless excuse for distrimination. Everybody everywhere is looking for pretty much the same thing yet elements of our society seem to be continually looking for false divisions. Flags seem just a means to reflect that division.

If the 'pride' represented by flags were for the tolerance and understanding shown by nations, they'd be bearable, but once they get hijacked by xenophobes for making 'others' feel unwelcome, they become toxic.

 

[Psamathe]

If the 'pride' represented by flags were for the tolerance and understanding shown by nations, they'd be bearable, but once they get hijacked by xenophobes for making 'others' feel unwelcome, they become toxic.

Yes. But also still a form of tribalism, a we are different, we do better, we ...

Still a line on a map and our side is different from your side.

 

[Bromptonaut]

I've felt that way for many years, probably from my feelings about "nationalism" - something I can't get to grips with. I really can't believe people who happen to have been born 25 miles from UK territory are so different or born further away. People are people and tribalism is just a baseless excuse for distrimination. Everybody everywhere is looking for pretty much the same thing yet elements of our society seem to be continually looking for false divisions. Flags seem just a means to reflect that division.

I have long said I've far more in common with French or Germans then Americans with whom we share little more than our common language.

 

[briantrumpet]

I have long said I've far more in common with French or Germans then Americans with whom we share little more than our common language.

I remember that I went to Norfolk and Brittany in close succession many years ago, and realised that they both had funny their accents but were much the same otherwise: I had just as much in common with the Bretons as the Norfolkians.

 

[secretsqirrel]

I like flags.

Do the English have a uniquely complicated relationship with their flag and identity?

 

[Pross]

I like flags.

Do the English have a uniquely complicated relationship with their flag and identity?

Theirs doesn't have a fire breathing dragon on it so it is automatically inferior.

 

[secretsqirrel]

Theirs doesn't have a fire breathing dragon on it so it is automatically inferior.

Flag envy.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

 

[Ian H]

I like flags.

Do the English have a uniquely complicated relationship with their flag and identity?

The Devon one is inoffensive.

 

[First Aspect]

Personally, I waved the white flag some time ago.

 

[briantrumpet]

The Devon one is inoffensive.

I think it could have been more offensive with a scone graphic.