I would like an opportunity to say what the England flag has meant to me for decades (Miliband pledge to white van man, 22 November). In the 60s, 70s and 80s, “Paki-bashing” was a common pastime among white people. Having eggs thrown at your door, stones at your window, or being spat on, was a part of life. The word “Paki” was a normal part of the lexicon. It was usually punctuated with the F-word before it and the C-word after it. All three words were used to insult and intimidate.
Walls and alleyways were often decorated with the words “Paki go home”. Along with this message would be the letters NF and the union jack or the St George’s flag. National Front marches or far-right rallies were a sea of such flags.
For decades the England flag and union jack represented far-right, racist views. Now people want to use them for the right reasons and say I’m being silly. My questions to them are: Where were you when the far right hijacked it? Why did you stand by and let your beloved flags be degraded? Why didn’t you tell them “Get your filthy fascist hands off my flag?”
So, after a quarter-century of these oppressive symbols (telling me to beware and to know to my place), please forgive me being suspicious of people who display these flags. How am I supposed to know the difference?
Bhasker Bhadresha
London
• In the course of renovating our house I met many tradesmen – a diverse group of people who work with their hands and brains. They may be as thoughtful and reflective as anybody else. Their working lives are stressful, as they interface directly with the general public, although often lacking the support structure of an employing organisation. As their income is directly tied to chargeable time, delays caused by traffic and parking restrictions can be particularly irksome to them. Emily Thornberry’s tweet was a grave misjudgment, but her error was informed by widely held prejudice that is encapsulated by the stereotype “white van man”. You should stop using it.
Peter McCullen
Brighton
• A survey of 10,000 tradespeople by Ironmongery Direct shows that they are more likely to read the Guardian than the Daily Star, and bear no resemblance to the “white van man” stereotype portrayed in Harry and Paul’s sketch. So we shouldn’t laugh at “white van man”, but it’s bad news if we can’t laugh at displays of the St George’s flag. Like it or not, its use does often go along with “Little Englander” messages, and people shouldn’t be ostracised for jokes (even unfunny jokes) around this.
Bob Banks
Grindleford, Derbyshire
• Arundhati Roy, writer and peace campaigner, said: “Flags are bits of coloured cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people’s minds and then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead.”
Annette Millward
Isleworth
• My wife and I became British citizens a few months back, after having been resident in the UK for over six years. During those six years, we paid thousands of pounds in direct fees to the Home Office to maintain our status as legitimate residents. We have both been economically active right from the beginning, so we have paid all the direct and indirect taxes applicable to UK residents, with the added requirement that I had to consistently earn an amount which is over one and a half times the UK national average salary. In precisely what sense should I consider the UK passport which I now hold to be like “cheap candy” (Letters, 22 November)?
Shailendra Singh
Watford
