A flag went up outside my house on Friday night (What does a true Brit feel when we commemorate the war or fly the St George flag? Depends on the Brit, 20 August). I asked very nicely if it could be taken down, but I was sneered at.
No house other than ours can see it directly, but many people were beeping their horns as they drove past. I figured that eventually the council would come and take them all down, then I remembered that we now have a Reform council, and it has said that it won’t.
Where does this end? I am having someone else’s view of patriotism and an enforced celebration of “Englishness” rammed down my throat, and the sheer act makes me feel less patriotic. I may have to look at this flag for months, but because there is nothing I can do about it, I’ve now started to feel a little less safe in my home. If I did say something, I would be pilloried and potentially targeted, such is the tribal jumping-on-the-bandwagon that seems to be happening in my community. I try to be tolerant of others, but somehow I am not afforded the same courtesy.
The widening inequality across this nation is slowly killing what some of us thought Britishness was all about. None of this is going to end well, even if it is about only one red and white flag.
Name and address supplied
• The use of flags/emblems as a means of “marking territory” and discouraging “others” may possibly be a new phenomenon in England (Flags as symbols of prejudice, not pride – and a distinct air of menace. Welcome to England 2025, 24 August), but anyone living in Northern Ireland will be familiar with this use of flags/emblems over many years. Flags supporting proscribed organisations is not new in Northern Ireland either.
I suppose you might also have to get used to your kerbstones being painted in red, white and blue. Local “vigilantes” stopping people with a different skin tone and asking for their “papers” might also be something you have to look forward to. The future may be unsure, but one thing you can be sure of is that this has nothing to do with protecting your women and girls.
Ed Shields
Lisburn, County Antrim
• Am I alone in finding this deeply ironic (‘A dangerous moment’: the emboldening of Britain’s far right, 24 August)? Those who parade the flag of Saint George to assert their Englishness often do so as a thin pretext for their anti-immigration prejudices. But George was a saint from Turkey who only became England’s patron saint in the 14th century. He never came to England, his reputation migrating here via the Crusades. Sadly, he took the job of our previous native patron saint, Edmund. Perhaps these activists should be supporting the reversal of this unjustified job theft.
Hugh Williamson
Southwold, Suffolk
• Great to see the Saint George’s cross flying everywhere. It was first adopted by Richard Lionheart, king of England. During his reign he lived in France, barely visited England and didn’t speak a word of English. Saint George himself was a Roman soldier, born in Turkey and martyred for his Christian beliefs. Such multiculturalism makes you proud to be British.
Andrew Gould
Bosham, West Sussex
• As a lifelong pub-goer and Guardian reader, my golden rule has always been to avoid any pub displaying Saint George’s flags and “Sky Sports shown here” banners.
Steve Fleming
Claygate, Surrey
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