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I see two SGC flags daily but they've been there for years. One a football one with "nobody likes us" printed on it. Well can't argue with that. The other a UVF one, I do wonder if I should mention to police Scotland as apparently we're arresting supporters of terrorist groups.
I'm with the op in this, seems like we're reaching boiling point, wish I'd moved to rural France years ago like my brother, really don't want to be part of what England appears to be coming.
Save yourself the trip - in terms of zenophobia and rising rightwing sentiment whats happening is England is just becoming more like France
Flag count on the way into London on the A40 yesterday morning, union flag 1 on a bridge & Palestinian flags 4 - albeit all attached to one building on very tall poles.
Save yourself the trip - in terms of zenophobia and rising rightwing sentiment whats happening is England is just becoming more like France
Yeah but my french is so poor, most of it would just pass me by.
One is done to make a minority feel welcome, and celebrate their inclusion.
What painting roads makes people feel more included. You are having a laugh. It’s just a look at me we’re special even though we claim to just want equality
The terps are a no brainer, as are women and children, but any men stating they're former ANA & ANP* as part of their claim should be vetted quite rigorously. They're not the saints many would like them to believe they are.
*The exception being any of the SF units who were top drawer soldiers.
And in English ?
What painting roads makes people feel more included. You are having a laugh. It’s just a look at me we’re special even though we claim to just want equality
And you know that how?
The terps are a no brainer, as are women and children, but any men stating they're former ANA & ANP* as part of their claim should be vetted quite rigorously. They're not the saints many would like them to believe they are.
*The exception being any of the SF units who were top drawer soldiers.
And in English ?
Terps = interpreters
ANA = Afghan National Army
ANP = Afghan National Police
Its deeply distressing and i'm at a loss about what i can actually do about it. It feels like the mainstream media is either simply giving more air to the far right or actually helping them and pushing their agenda forward. Arguing on social media feels utterly pointless. I went on a couple of Stand Up To Racism demos but they rapidly turned into the usual left wing catch all for multiple causes. It really feels like the counter arguments of caring and compassion for fellow humans is simply not cutting through.
Makes yer 'art swell with pride...
Taken from Illiterate Britain Facebook
Save yourself the trip - in terms of zenophobia and rising rightwing sentiment whats happening is England is just becoming more like France
As someone who knows both quite well you need to swap the places of England and France in that sentence. And use an X. Actual British mainstream policy is well to the right of the RN.
Brexit done, Frexit a figment of Jamby's imagination
It's Britain that pays France for border control not the other way around
Foreigners don't have to pay a fortune to work in France, they do in the UK
Anyhow, compare Starmer, the Tories in general and Farrage with RN policy and I think you'll find Bardella is something of a pussy in comparison - and doesn't get the same level of support from the general population.
As someone who knows both quite well you need to swap the places of England and France in that sentence.
Do you think that les banlieues have a direct equivalent in the UK? It is my impression (and only that, I am not knowledgeable) that France is much more racially segregated than the UK. Politically you might be right, but socially? Of course you yourself are white so maybe you haven't come across much racism.
I don't remember Harold Wilson very well, was just a nipper, but someone on bluesky posted this extract from a speech he gave in the 60s following Enoch Powell's sh1t stirring.....If only Starmer could find some similar spine and revulsion:
It feels like the mainstream media is either simply giving more air to the far right or actually helping them and pushing their agenda forward.
That's nothing new, follow the £, who owns the media, and so on.
Arguing on social media feels utterly pointless.
It's actually counter-productive I think, it feeds their algorithm and boosts the content. And we know facebook etc count as the mainstream media and are fuelling all this, not calming it. They earn from engagement. Possible that the best thing we can do is delete the apps and let them become a RW cesspit like X.
I share your frustrations though. I'm not saying if we ignore it it goes away, but in some places we do need to ignore it and minimise interactions. Where to channel the energy? Volunteering, personal level positives, to support good causes and efforts to counter the noise? And even forget the politics for now? Politics is lost in the same fight for attention that social media, online media have all been caught up in, the same divisive results that create all the noise. Back to humanitarian basics is perhaps a better way to think?
If only Starmer could find some similar spine and revulsion:
And even if he did he'd need a platform with the kind of focus and attention a politician of the 60s on the BBC would have had. Back then a speech could have had far greater impact and durability, I expect.
Do you think that les banlieues have a direct equivalent in the UK?
Yup, open you eyes. Living in Brum in the 60s and 70s there were several medium to high rise estates, many thankfully now demolished. In fact so much so that standing on the Lickey hills recently some landmark areas of high rise had vansihed completely.
Scroll down for pictures of the high rises - France or UK? you wouldn't guess. Edit: link failing this will have to do:
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Vale_Estate
France is much more racially segregated than the UK.
Part of my studies were done in Leicester. find me a more segregated French city. If you don't like the Leicester example try Brum or Lu Luton or... .
Of course you yourself are white so maybe you haven't come across much racism.
Trolling fail.
With a can of red spray paint, and four quick flourishes, any already doctored roundabout could be transformed into a hearty welcome to our Georgian expat friends.
I clocked a Georgian Flag on one of the motorway bridges on the M6 a couple of days ago on the way back from Scotland, along with approx 65 Temu sourced Ingerlund flags and Union Jacks (most upside down).
They started just North of Preston and only seemed to increase in number and decline in quality as we got into the Midlands.
From an aesthetic point of view...I've spent quite a bit of time in the US and Canada and they love a flag! Nothing wrong with hanging a decent quality flag on your house or other buildings, I actually think it looks quite nice. But ziptying some cheap tat that will fall to bits or end up in a hedgerow after the first bit of wind to intimidate "imgrunts" and "lefties" to a motorway bridge is just shit.
Round the corner from us there appears to be flag wars. We have a Union Jack (they had an Israel flag up for about 3 days after October 7th, they've not had a palestine flag up in case you were wondering) opposite a George cross but the Transwoman who lives next to door the England flag has just put out the BIGGEST TRANS FLAG IN EXISTENCE.
And about those roundabouts...
Just heard that a mini roundabout in the next village over has had a George Cross and F*** Palestine spray painted on it...
Jesus wept...
This is a hill I'm prepared to die on.
With a can of red spray paint, and four quick flourishes, any already doctored roundabout could be transformed into a hearty welcome to our Georgian expat friends.
I clocked a Georgian Flag on one of the motorway bridges on the M6 a couple of days ago on the way back from Scotland, along with approx 65 Temu sourced Ingerlund flags and Union Jacks (most upside down).
They started just North of Preston and only seemed to increase in number and decline in quality as we got into the Midlands.
From an aesthetic point of view...I've spent quite a bit of time in the US and Canada and they love a flag! Nothing wrong with hanging a decent quality flag on your house or other buildings, I actually think it looks quite nice. But ziptying some cheap tat that will fall to bits or end up in a hedgerow after the first bit of wind to intimidate "imgrunts" and "lefties" to a motorway bridge is just shit.
Round the corner from us there appears to be flag wars. We have a Union Jack (they had an Israel flag up for about 3 days after October 7th, they've not had a palestine flag up in case you were wondering) opposite a George cross but the Transwoman who lives next to door the England flag has just put out the BIGGEST TRANS FLAG IN EXISTENCE.
And about those roundabouts...
Is it just me, or was that pic mocked up in MS paint using the 'water colour' brush tool?
Heres my modified version:
I agree with your sentiment relapsed-mandalorin and don't think you'll be shot down on this particular hill on this forum anyhow. The cemetry in your first pic is in Arnhem, one of the sites of historical interest we've integrated into cycle tours over the years - the bridge too far. The cause being faught for went beyond simple British patriotism, it was the freedom of a continent and indeed the "free world". From wiki
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission records 1759 graves in the cemetery as of 2023. 1684 of these are Commonwealth, including British, Canadian, Australian and New Zealanders. The cemetery is also the last resting place of 73 Polish soldiers, (many of them exhumed and moved from Driel, to the disappointment of Driel's residents)[13]and 8 Dutch civilians – some killed in the fighting and some former Commission employees. 243 of the graves are unidentified.[1
The cause was common, Madame Edukator is thankful that her Polish father who was demobbed back to the UK from Italy at the end of the war didn't live to see Brexit and Polish plumbers feeling uncomfortable in the UK. He made the UK his home (he had to, Poles who returned to Poland post war were often killed by the soviets, his father died after soviet prison time along with many ex-Polish army officers). Patriots maybe but they were also fighting for our peace and freedom wherever we live in Europe and whatever flag we fly.
When we get asked for St George’s day cards in the shop I explain that we prefer to celebrate St Alban, a proper English saint.
St. Aldhelm for me. A remarkable man, widely travelled and highly educated, he was bishop of Malmesbury, and if I’d been aware of the competition organised by Wiltshire Council to design a county flag, I’d have suggested St. Aldhem’s, a white cross on a red background, the opposite of the St. George flag, with a gold Bustard in the top left quadrant, as it’s the county bird, it appears on the coat of arms.
Is it just me, or was that pic mocked up in MS paint using the 'water colour' brush
Yup. I thought something looked a bit odd, a quick zoom in shows the background colour showing through where the red overlays the tarmac.
If I could be arsed, I could do a much better job than that, but then I was being paid to retouch advertising and in-house material for the likes of Titleist, Castrol and EPSRC. I won’t do it for free, I have standards! 😏
In the Norfolk countryside at the weekend I spotted, in someone's garden, a red flag with a dragon on it, like the Welsh dragon but white. Thought "That looks like an interesting flag, wonder what it's for", when I Googled it later, it suggests it's for people who don't find the George Cross to be fascistic enough... Ho hum...
Makes yer 'art swell with pride...
Taken from Illiterate Britain Facebook
I think its been touched on before but these 'patriotic' things are just so shite in their implementation.
If your going to do it, go full Nazi and do it with some flair, these peeps just making the country look a right dump.
When I were a lad, I remember the Queens 1977 jubilee , my dad made a large metal flagpole which bolted on top of our wrote-iron fence and the next door neighbour who was a tug boat captain lent us a large Union Jack.
(We even put it the right way up 🙂 )
Anyway all this flag malarky always reminds me of
In the Norfolk countryside at the weekend I spotted, in someone's garden, a red flag with a dragon on it, like the Welsh dragon but white. Thought "That looks like an interesting flag, wonder what it's for", when I Googled it later, it suggests it's for people who don't find the George Cross to be fascistic enough... Ho hum...
It's a modern take on the flag that was supposedly used in England before the Normans invaded.
Ha!
Just seen my first 'flagged' road in the local area.
Yup. It's exactly where I'd expect it to be.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
I'll also add that they didn't do the mini roundabout in time to let it dry. So now it looks more like the sort of thing a 'consultant' would come up with if asked to design a contemporary take on the SGC for an upcoming sporting event. Or perhaps the intergalactic 'who is the biggest xenophobic cretin' tournament.
🤣🤣🤣
Trying to work out which flags would make the local flag shaggers furious.
Lebanese flag , Palestinian flag , stars and stripes, all have merit but reckon most wouldn't know one from another.
Apart from a gay pride LGBTQ flag . I might buy a few dozen and Go out with my big ladder and adopt the lampposts for the big gay community.
Went to cut the flags down from the bridge near me last night and someone had got there before me! 👍 to whoever it was!
same
Trying to work out which flags would make the local flag shaggers furious.
Given some of the posts on the immigration thread a French one should do the trick. Add EU to your rainbow and you're good.
Could you imagine the frothing if you put up a Royal Navy Ensign? A Union Jack and a St George's Cross. 🍆💦
the same chap who was reported by the times to be 'painter and decorator, father of five' which i'm sure is true, however they failed to mention his links to far right extremists or his previous conviction.
Trying to work out which flags would make the local flag shaggers furious.
Lebanese flag , Palestinian flag , stars and stripes, all have merit but reckon most wouldn't know one from another.
Apart from a gay pride LGBTQ flag . I might buy a few dozen and Go out with my big ladder and adopt the lampposts for the big gay community.
This should do the job 🤭
Perfect on a mini roundabout, that
That Hope Not Hate article tells you everything you need to know. And the Daily Wail supporting it.. well, they're consistent at least. Nothing good comes from ****s like that.
It's getting quite nasty on the local FB group now, to start with there were a few posts from the flag shaggers about how proud and happy it made them to see our great flag everywhere. Then a group went and sprayed racist graffiti around the main shopping street and vandalised the local park which the council and parks team have really worked hard to improve this year and was looking great. Then when the parish council removed some flags from one of their properties they took photos of the workers, went bonkers on FB about it and suddenly it was all about giving the country to immigrants and all the other frothy mouth nonsense they come out with.
Generally once the vandalism started it felt like the tide turned against the flag shaggers on the group.
Above from FB group.
Above from FB group.
Christ. Could they at least pop down to wherever the local graffiti artists hang out to get some lessons before inflicting their "patriotism" on everyone?
Saw this posted on reddit, hopefully they start painting st george flags on potholes next 😏
It's getting quite nasty on the local FB group now, to start with there were a few posts from the flag shaggers about how proud and happy it made them to see our great flag everywhere. Then a group went and sprayed racist graffiti around the main shopping street and vandalised the local park which the council and parks team have really worked hard to improve this year and was looking great. Then when the parish council removed some flags from one of their properties they took photos of the workers, went bonkers on FB about it and suddenly it was all about giving the country to immigrants and all the other frothy mouth nonsense they come out with.
Generally once the vandalism started it felt like the tide turned against the flag shaggers on the group.
Above from FB group.
Was only a matter of time before they went full potato. Daft pricks.
Might start a gofundme for flags. Just had scaffolding put up around the house in prep for a new roof. I reckon I could fit quite a few international flags on the poles.
Could become the new UN building for a week.
Was only a matter of time before they went full potato. Daft pricks.
The problem is everything gets hijacked, there are people just desperate to vandalise stuff and now they are being encouraged.
Noticed the certainly not racist and definitely not thick 'patriots' have painted the mini roundabouts and crossings in Skipton now. They didn't leave enough drying time so now the town centre roads are covered in streaky red paint, as I imagine plenty of cars will be. Well done lads, well done.
Cleaning up bill for council sorting out vandalised infrastructure, 10s perhaps 100s of £1000s
Moans from locals that the council has no money for services, similar number.
And the stupid continues
Train delayed 'due to people trying to hang flags'
Just a matter of time before one of the flag shaggers enters themselves for a Darwin award.
Now one of the Derbyshire Reform councillors is basically calling the local parish council traitors on social media for removing the flags, which was basically the point of putting them up, a massive s**t stirring plan.
Walking home yesterday from the station. The parade of shops has gone flag mad and the lamp posts have them flying. The Barber shop if cashing in and selling the flags to flag shaggers! I’m tempted to buy the lot on the way home.
This has been a thing in parts of my area for a few years now including zebra crossing and mini roundabout painted.
The Remembrance Day even high jacked by the loons now!
Just a matter of time before one of the flag shaggers enters themselves for a Darwin award.
You say that like it's a bad thing ?
19 flags adorn every lampposts and traffic sign within 1 mile of my front door.
The support level on the local FB group is really high , unfortunately I don't think the locals understand the underlying messages behind the xenophobic George crosses. If I understand correctly the theme is migrants are not welcome as they are jihad rapist burglars who get free hotels and food etc and we are paying for them to stay here. Whereas we want the money for our social service so we can sit around all day and get more money for Stella and Benson's . And it's all these foreign brown people who are taking that away
Maybe .
Can you imagine the state all these flags will look by mid Winter?
Shredded by the weather and turning green and black due to algae and mold.
Probably a far better indicator of where the country is at.
The Marsh Family have expressed a view in their inimitable style
The support level on the local FB group is really high , unfortunately I don't think the locals understand the underlying messages behind the xenophobic George crosses
I think a lot of people got involved thinking it was a patriotic, football type thing, without realising how it was being pushed by the fascist groups as the Hope Not Hate article outlines
That's cool, be great if they could hang the union flag the right way up and stop letting it touch the ground.
Unless you're conducting a drumhead service, changing of the colours or observing an act of remembrance, one does not allow the colours to lay in the dirt.
You'd think 'patriots' would understand the dignified and respectful way to treat the flags they seem to hold in such high regard.
I think a lot of people got involved thinking it was a patriotic, football type thing, without realising how it was being pushed by the fascist groups as the Hope Not Hate article outlines
Can you imagine the state all these flags patriots will look by mid Winter?
Shredded tortured by the weather and turning green even more red faced and black due to as they realize how they have been suckered and used, just like their redneck cousins across the pond algae and mold.
Probably a far better indicator of where the country is at.
That's cool, be great if they could hang the union flag the right way up and stop letting it touch the ground.
Unless you're conducting a drumhead service, changing of the colours or observing an act of remembrance, one does not allow the colours to lay in the dirt.
You'd think 'patriots' would understand the dignified and respectful way to treat the flags they seem to hold in such high regard.
I think a lot of people got involved thinking it was a patriotic, football type thing, without realising how it was being pushed by the fascist groups as the Hope Not Hate article outlines
Forgot to add this.
Drove under a few on bridges on the M42 earlier. The cretins couldn't even hang them at even spacing to make it look neat.
TBH the uneven placing annoyed me nearly as much as them being there in the first place. As above, they'll just be a tattered, grime-streaked mess by November. If they last that long.
BBC local news picking up on the former EDL guys involvement, quoting the Hope Not Hate report above
You'd think 'patriots' would understand the dignified and respectful way to treat the flags they seem to hold in such high regard.
I think i could be convinced by someone arguing for a UK version of the USA Flag Code but one that is compulsory and enforced by airstrikes.
And the stupid continues
Train delayed 'due to people trying to hang flags'
Just a matter of time before one of the flag shaggers enters themselves for a Darwin award.
That may already have happened 😆 , I took my car down to Carlisle today from here in galloway and whilst driving into Carlisle at lunchtime I saw someone up a ladder tying flags on lampposts, on the way out of town after getting car serviced I noticed an ambulance with blue lights on sitting close to where they were tying them on and a ladder lying on the pavement.
I've looked on the news websites but can't find anything, it was near to an off-licence type place on the road out of town.
I noticed an ambulance with blue lights on sitting close to where they were tying them on and a ladder lying on the pavement.
Its a shame we dont have a purple heart medal in the UK military which could be specially awarded to them for their valiant services to stupidity.
I seldom visit facebook these days, but when I do I'm sad to see so many people I know drawn in by and supporting all this shite. Including quite a few people I'd previously thought to be level headed and sensible. Some, I suspect are just thinking it's about displaying national a flag and haven't really cottoned on to the anti migrant and extreme right stuff, and probably wouldn't support it if they did. I can cut them some slack. But plenty of others are sharing proper racist memes along with pics of shitty quality temu flags on lampposts and equating their offensive views with my/our national flag. People I know and once called friends. It's the way people have become emboldened to say things openly, they never would have done a few years ago that gets me. That such a festering undercurrent of embedded racism and prejudice was there all along, but they've now been given permission to let it all out without fear of recrimination. I'm not naive and knew these views were out there, I'm just a bit surprised by how widespread they are amongst people I know. Just depressing.
went to Birmingham today, bit sad seeing all the flags at half mast, who died. I suppose racists are scared of heights
I'm not naive and knew these views were out there, I'm just a bit surprised by how widespread they are amongst people I know. Just depressing.
Got a colleague at work who is a likely candidate for saying something unsuitable. Last time he did I reported it. I'm avoiding him to try and not have to repeat that.
Maybe Dave could send out some diagrams to help the flagies understand ...
https://davewalker.com/possible-causes-of-your-problems/
I reckon some of the flag shaggers might be jealous. I wonder if the government paid for everyone to have a night away in a hotel, they'd be ok with asylum seekers staying there for a bit longer.
Trying to work out which flags would make the local flag shaggers furious.
I’ve been thinking about this. Not so much about making people (even more) furious, but more about what flag we could fly to make it clear we support refugees and asylum seekers coming here and receiving our welcome.
I reckon some of the flag shaggers might be jealous. I wonder if the government paid for everyone to have a night away in a hotel
I suspect quite a few of them have their holidays paid for by the taxpayer including a few special all inclusive ones at his majesties pleasure (still is weird typing his vs her).
That may already have happened 😆 , I took my car down to Carlisle today from here in galloway and whilst driving into Carlisle at lunchtime I saw someone up a ladder tying flags on lampposts, on the way out of town after getting car serviced I noticed an ambulance with blue lights on sitting close to where they were tying them on and a ladder lying on the pavement.
Well if it has happened they can be buried wrapped in the cheaply produced plastic tat that is available on a lamppost directly above.
Actually, no, scrub that. Because if they were, they might end up being the only perfectly preserved mummies from Britain when the aliens arrive in 2125. I would hate to think that our fossil record would have extra terrestrial life think they were the archetype. Six fingers, five teeth, three eyes and a Carling induced granite liver.
😬
Well , Where i live made the local TV 6pm news , as did Brighton where they remove all the flags pretty much as soon as they go up.
TV reporter then interviews a few likely lads who claim to have put up the flags , and they try to turn it into being anti British to pull them down .. as its not really a not so subtle racist sign.
I suspect , and I might be wrong , some of this spills down from seeing their older family and relatives being destitute in their older years and its some elses fault that they spent all of their money on Cigarettes , Alcohol , New Cars , Multiple foreign holidays a year, Sky Sports , New Phones, Season Tickets to the footy and JDW . So now they cant have all those things on the State Pension or a care home that cares . There must be a reason there's not any money left for them , and its got to be some elses fault . Not Brexit , The huge Covid expenditure , The Tories help the rich policies etc . And they can see themselves in the same position in the not too distant future as they also spend 100% of their income on non essential items or depreciating assets, and save nothing.
And its probably the same people that voted Labour , and Voted Brexit and need a soft target for their anger and it happens to be an economic migrant from Afganistan , who helped the UKAF during the invasion and now has to escape because he is facing a be-heading at the hands of Isis / Islamic Jihad
Cumbria Police had some fun yesterday...
https://cumbriacrack.com/2025/08/29/police-picture-sparks-wild-flag-rumours/
Police weren't taking the flag down - they were installing a CCTV camera 🤣
I reckon some of the flag shaggers might be jealous. I wonder if the government paid for everyone to have a night away in a hotel, they'd be ok with asylum seekers staying there for a bit longer.
If any of these guys stayed for a night in any of the "hotels" housing asylum seekers/ refugees/ temporarily homeless people☆ that I've been into, they wouldn't be jealous at all.
☆ It wasn't my business to ask them their exact status etc - just to drop off their package and go.
The only flag I've been shocked to see was red hand of Ulster ones on lampposts adorned all along a road in Glasgow. I'm not even 100% sure why it bothered me so much.
I like a bit of national pride so an England flag being flown in England is good thing in my opinion, I see plenty of Saltires in Scotland which doesn't seem to attract any negative responses.
More national pride for you to rejoice in
https://yorkmix.com/this-is-heartbreaking-racist-graffiti-scrawled-on-york-takeaway/
The only flag I've been shocked to see was red hand of Ulster ones on lampposts adorned all along a road in Glasgow. I'm not even 100% sure why it bothered me so much.
I like a bit of national pride so an England flag being flown in England is good thing in my opinion, I see plenty of Saltires in Scotland which doesn't seem to attract any negative responses.
Red hand of Ulster is all about sectarianism. Very unpleasant for of bigotry
The saltire has not become a symbol of racism unlike the St Georges Cross. How England reclaims it from the racists I do not know but unfortunately thats how its seen and used right now
They're just 'proud patriots', remember.
Like the Epping rioters were just 'concerned parents'.
Utter bollocks, of course. They're useless racist shitbags.