This flying of flags malarkey

[Spider]

56 minutes ago, wanderer1984 said:

Where do you meet these "worriors" that tell you this?

I meet these "wArriors" on twitter and facebook.

And make no mistake, all this has come about because of Twitter.

You may not go on there, so I understand if you're unaware of its influence.

[Dimron]

27 minutes ago, paulhanley said:

Words from Paul Embery - a man of the left, Labour member and former senior union official. Lets see who is the first to respond with a "sneering contemptuous caricature of working class people" 

 

At the weekend, I drove along the A12 through Essex – a route I know well. In the hour or so that I was on the road, I spotted several St George flags hanging from overbridges. I’d never previously witnessed such a spectacle.

And then, driving through a village near my home a couple of nights ago, I saw a flag affixed to a post outside the church. It wasn’t there last week.

Something seems to be happening out there. The ‘Raise the Colours’ campaign has plainly caught the wind.

I don’t think any of us knows for sure where it’s heading, but it doesn’t take an expert to understand where it came from.

Ordinary Britons know that our immigration and asylum system is utterly broken and are exasperated at the failure of successive governments to fix it.

They see that globalisation and open borders have forced rapid – perhaps irreversible – transformation on their communities, and it makes them uneasy.

But it isn’t only that. They have also had enough of ‘asymmetric multiculturalism’ - the unofficial doctrine of the liberal-progressive elite, which decrees that minority nationalities and cultures must always be enthusiastically celebrated while the majority nationality and culture must be downplayed.

This is never said openly, of course. But public policy over recent decades has ensured that this has been the effect

Throw in nearly 20 years of economic stagnation, falling living standards, diminishing job security, a chronic housing shortage and failing public services, and you have the perfect storm.

Sooner or later, those who felt they had lost most from these seismic economic and cultural shifts were going to react. The flag crusade is just a part of that reaction.

We also witnessed the blowback via the ballot box with the Brexit vote, and then on the streets after the Southport massacre.

And we see it, too, in the major political realignment that is taking place, with Reform UK’s surge in the opinion polls and its hoovering up of support from significant chunks of the working classes, including voters in traditional Labour strongholds.

The elite class and its outriders among the commentariat hold their heads in their hands, believing that this all heralds a return to the dark days of the 1930s, when fascism was knocking at the door and racial supremacists were on the march.

Their catastrophising has reached hysterical proportions and is quite often laced with invective towards the working class itself.

Witness, for example, a post on ‘X’ which, at the time of writing, has attracted almost a million views and nearly 10,000 likes, reads: ‘The English working class has been so brainwashed by the right-wing media for more than four decades that it completely lacks the critical skills to identify propaganda and imagine a better future.'

What a sneering, contemptuous caricature of working-class people from the commentator (who naturally displays the EU flag in his ‘bio’).

One that paints them as low-IQ dupes with no agency and no ability to form their own opinions on the basis of their personal experiences and powers of reason.

I do wonder how many of those who level such attacks on working-class voters have spent any length of time engaging with them or attempting to understand their lives.

If they did, they would find that these voters are often far more intelligent and nuanced in their opinions than they are given credit for.

I recently had a few tradesmen – a couple of painters and decorators and a carpet fitter – working in my home.

At various points, I fell into talking with each of them about politics. We didn’t agree on everything, but their opinions were plainly thoughtful and considered.

On issues such as Ukraine, immigration and free speech, their arguments challenged establishment orthodoxy – but in a way that was well-informed and subtle rather than obnoxious or crankish.

What came through is that these guys, all of whom had working-class roots, were decent, productive members of society who felt that the political establishment didn’t really care about them or their opinions.

All were tempted by the message of Reform UK. None had a good word to say about Labour. As a person rooted in the labour movement, that saddened me immensely.

It is the alienation felt by people like this that has driven the ‘Raise the Colours’ campaign. The proliferation of flags across the country represents a cry from the forgotten millions. They are saying, ‘Hey, what about us?’

Sure, the far-right will leap on the campaign and perhaps even try to hijack it for its own ends. But it would be a gross error to conclude – as many on the left have already done – that anyone supportive of the initiative must be imbued with extremist politics.

‘Raise the Colours’ does not signify the advance of fascism. Instead, the hoisting of every national flag by an ordinary citizen represents a small act of resistance. And that in itself tells us an awful lot about where we are as a country.

 

Sums up the disconnection between Westminster and ordinary people, that is why I was suggesting we need more devolution to get people feeling involved

[wanderer1984]

21 minutes ago, Spider said:

I meet these "wArriors" on twitter and facebook.

And make no mistake, all this has come about because of Twitter.

You may not go on there, so I understand if you're unaware of its influence.

Fair enough. I've never had facebook and only follow a few companies and folk on twitter. I'll scroll through now & then but never engage on there.

I sometimes see videos etc on there that have nothing to do with who I'm following from both left and right. I just can't be fucking arsed to get bothered by it.

 

[DazBob]

1 hour ago, royal white said:

The councils could get themselves onside with this. Lots of good quality flags, properly erected around villages, towns and cities would look a lot better than the Temu ones we are seeing. 

Most normal folk would prefer they spend that time and money filling in the potholes.

[London Wanderer]

1 hour ago, Spider said:

I meet these "wArriors" on twitter and facebook.

And make no mistake, all this has come about because of Twitter.

You may not go on there, so I understand if you're unaware of its influence.

Here’s another

 

[DazBob]

Just seen more St George's/Union flags in Little Lever and Bradley Fold in the last 10 minutes than I have commuting from Heaton to Blackburn in the last three days.

[boogs]

31 minutes ago, DazBob said:

Just seen more St George's/Union flags in Little Lever and Bradley Fold in the last 10 minutes than I have commuting from Heaton to Blackburn in the last three days.

My mum lives in BF. I was quite taken aback by the amount of them on lamposts all the way from sparking clog down to radcliffe. Whoever did it spent (wasted) alot of their time doing it. 

[gonzo]

I've just driven by the Reebok and spotted McAtee dumped outside covered in St Georges flags.

[wanderer1984]

44 minutes ago, London Wanderer said:

Here’s another

 

That's on YouTube though. It's nothing like twitter or fb. Surly you'd have to search for that sort of thing?

[Ani]

1 hour ago, wanderer1984 said:

Fair enough. I've never had facebook and only follow a few companies and folk on twitter. I'll scroll through now & then but never engage on there.

I sometimes see videos etc on there that have nothing to do with who I'm following from both left and right. I just can't be fucking arsed to get bothered by it.

 

Twitter is a brilliant idea that is ruined by the people who use it. Not just political just people shouting with nothing to say. 

[Spider]

1 hour ago, wanderer1984 said:

Fair enough. I've never had facebook and only follow a few companies and folk on twitter. I'll scroll through now & then but never engage on there.

I sometimes see videos etc on there that have nothing to do with who I'm following from both left and right. I just can't be fucking arsed to get bothered by it.

 

Twitter seems to be predominantly right wing. In large part due to Musk controlling the algorithms.

In short, people are putting flags up because some cunt on Twitter told them to.

 

[Sweep]

6 hours ago, bolty58 said:

She does the painting and you the washing and ironing?

FFS, I didn't know I was jousting with a SNAG.

You've been out of the country too long, nobody does their own washing and ironing these days. That's why we need these "cash in hand" domestics from foreign lands. 😀

Life is too short for domestic drudgery

[Sweep]

3 hours ago, royal white said:

The councils could get themselves onside with this. Lots of good quality flags, properly erected around villages, towns and cities would look a lot better than the Temu ones we are seeing. 

100%, i said this the other day. It's the dog shit quality flags, and bedsheets, that make it all look a bit grim. Do it properly, it could look decent

[Not in Crawley]

2 hours ago, Dimron said:

Sums up the disconnection between Westminster and ordinary people, that is why I was suggesting we need more devolution to get people feeling involved

On the same page as Gordon Brown - his white paper said the same thing, we should have greater devolved powers.

[Dimron]

52 minutes ago, gonzo said:

I've just driven by the Reebok and spotted McAtee dumped outside covered in St Georges flags.

Probably had a good win on the gee gees after training 😆

Edited August 28, 2025 by Dimron

[little whitt]

Morris Green Ln

my first house is in that block 

[London Wanderer]

3 hours ago, wanderer1984 said:

That's on YouTube though. It's nothing like twitter or fb. Surly you'd have to search for that sort of thing?

Aye, it is.

I came across it recently. Just shows that there are muppets out there who see people who disagree with them as ‘traitors’. 
 

You also get people calling others ‘anti British’ for not sharing their values. Might as well mean the same.

[wanderer1984]

9 minutes ago, London Wanderer said:

You also get people calling others ‘anti British’ for not sharing their values. Might as well mean the same.

Not really sure what that means.

Is it kind of the same as calling someone thick, racist, gammon etc without actually knowing the person.

Basically everyone on each side spouting shite to one another ... its all pointless 

[bolty58]

3 hours ago, Sweep said:

You've been out of the country too long, nobody does their own washing and ironing these days. That's why we need these "cash in hand" domestics from foreign lands. 😀

Life is too short for domestic drudgery

 Elusive pimpernel me matey. In and out sometimes with only a select few in the know.

The Bradshaw tenants on notice that they may have to move on in 2029. I may have to be Reformed and rejuvenated 😉

[burnden]

[Spider]

1 minute ago, burnden said:

I bet that's boiled some piss.

[Sweep]

20 hours ago, Spider said:

I bet that's boiled some piss.

Probably, but even the most Gammony of Gammons must know that it's not a good thing to go around painting over road markings. Unless they're just thick cunts

 

Edited August 30, 2025 by Sweep

[BobyBrno]

[Sweep]

16 hours ago, bolty58 said:

 Elusive pimpernel me matey. In and out sometimes with only a select few in the know.

 

Like James Bond you.......

[Not in Crawley]

Well I shall be celebrating this fine country tomorrow at the Faversham Hop Festival - lots of hay nonny no-ing I reckon.