SO, does the flag of Saint George fly at your home?
Good luck to you if it does, because pretty soon some namby-pamby busybody will complain to the council about it — or just straight rip it down.
As we are now witnessing, there are plenty of folk who hate what you’re doing.
You know who they are. They’re the smarmy judgmental types who equate flying our country’s flag with wearing a KKK hood or doing a Nazi salute.
They’re the condescending cretins who think everyone within three yards of a St George’s Cross is a loathsome Tommy Robinson -loving “flag-shagger”, poised to knock your lights out.
They’re the hopelessly woke councils terrified of appearing racist — like Brighton , now demanding all St George’s Cross flags are removed from its streets.
And they are the incorrigible snobs like that ghastly Emily Thornberry , MP for Islington South (of course) who sneers at the flag-flying taxpayers who pay her £94,000 salary, assuming them to be those who — horror of horrors — backed Brexit .
All these people would much rather hoist the flags of Palestine or Ukraine than the simple standard of their own country.
But sadly they are not the only ones who seem to have an issue with displaying our flag.
There are others. Lots of them. And they don’t hate their own country.
Because the harsh truth is that the vast majority of us in England have failed to embrace the St George’s Cross.
When I asked you at the start of this article if you were flying the flag, I knew there was a strong chance that you were not. I know this because I can see it with my own eyes — or rather I can’t see it.
While it is true we’re seeing more and more flags appear as the migrant protests grow in intensity, the reality is that you can still walk for miles along England’s streets — from the council estates to the millionaire’s row — and see very, very few flags on display, if any at all.
Outside of a Euros or World Cup football tournament, where we might Blu Tack a flag to the living room window, we just don’t bother. And I include myself here.
Attract suspicion
So why is this? Why does a proud nation like ours not fly the flag in such numbers as to make it a fixture of our green and pleasant land?
The answer, I think, is depressingly simple. And it has little to do with the far right’s adoption of the flag — something that is undeniably problematic — and everything to do with how we are brought up.
In modern England we are never taught to LOVE our country and, by extension, our flag. Eighty years on from the end of the last world war, that deep sense of patriotism we once shared seems to have been expunged from our DNA .
It is no surprise that St George’s Day is rarely celebrated, never mind made a national holiday.
Compare our approach to patriotism with that of America.
In schools across the Pond the Pledge of Allegiance is still recited each morning in 47 of the 50 states.
As you know, this patriotic pledge sees students stand before the national flag and recite a verse: “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands.”
This morning ritual — albeit no longer mandatory — has been going on relatively unchanged since October 1892.
It is little wonder then that so many American homes — whether in red or blue states — fly the Stars And Stripes.
Indeed, to not fly it would doubtless attract suspicion — the complete reversal of what has happened here.
Now I’m not advocating the kind of saccharine-sweet jingoism that America indulges in — no, we’re far too British for all that schmaltzy emotion.
Yet surely we must be able to find a way to infuse some national pride into our education system?
We could start by insisting that every English school flies a St George’s Cross.
Like the French, who passed a law in 2019 requiring every classroom to display the tricolore.
It is clear we have a long way to go to fall in love with our flag, as the recent incident of a pupil being sent home for wearing a Union Jack dress for a “culture celebration day” vividly demonstrated.
But we must make the effort.
Because amid all the negativity and nuisance in this cold, rainy nation of ours, we English still have much to be proud of.
YOU IN A HURRY, HARRY?
SO Harry Styles is now dating Lenny Kravitz ’s daughter Zoe .
Well, I say that, but this information is now a few days old so it’s quite possible that the One D serial shagger has moved on by now.
Because that’s the thing with our Harry, he seems to have no interest whatsoever in being tied down (well not in the traditional sense anyway).
I imagine the only remarkable thing about Zoe as far as Harry is concerned is that it means he’s finally worked his way through the A-Z of The World’s Most Beautiful Women.
“GO to work on an egg” was the old marketing slogan to get us to crack open a breakfast boilie.
But going to work is not enough any more.
With eggs now rocketing in price, you need a second job just to afford them.
IT’S NOT ALOUD
TRANSPORT For London often seems to be working against customers rather than for them, what with all the greedy strikes , filthy trains, shoddy service and what have you.
But their new campaign aimed at stopping selfish bastards forcing you to listen to what they’re playing on their phones is a genuine public service.
With wifi available on most tube trains now it can be impossible to avoid some cretin’s cacophonous TikTok feast or tedious conversation on loudspeaker.
I’d go one step further, though, and switch off the mobile signal for the entire Underground.
If you can’t go ten minutes without scrolling social media or making a call then you need to have a word with yourself.
BECKS’ MURKY WATERS
DAVID BECKHAM may now be a knight of the realm but that hasn’t stopped him fraternising with the plebs.
He could do with being a bit fussier about who he kicks about with, though, if he really cares about his hallowed Brand Beckham.
I would suggest hanging out with a coke-snorting thug who a civil court recently found liable for sexual assault, then plastering the meeting on social media, is probably not the best move.
If a man is judged by the company he keeps, then Sir David’s meet-up with “yacht neighbour” Conor McGregor in Italy looks like a very unwise move indeed.
MAKING A MEAL OF IT, ED
ED DAVEY’S decision not to attend the planned banquet at Windsor Castle for Donald Trump smacks of another one of his excruciating publicity stunts.
The Lib Dem leader claims the reason he won’t be going to next month’s state scoff is in solidarity with Palestine .
Ok, Ed.
So here we have a senior politician – one knighted in 2016 for “political and public service” – happy to embarrass the King in order to get a tiny round of applause from his minuscule fanbase?
Because one thing is for certain, it will have absolutely zero impact on Trump, who has doubtless never heard of Sir Ed Davey .
KAY'S BUSINESS
PETER KAY’S Better Late Than Never stand-up show – now in its third year – has been doing great business for the Bolton boy.
He’s made a cool £27million since it kicked off in December 2022 so it’s perhaps no surprise he’s reportedly asked fans to take down any social media “spoiler” posts.
I sat through it at the O2 in London a while back so can only conclude that he doesn’t want the dwindling pool of people who haven’t yet bought a ticket to be put off by how lame and dated it is.
SCOTTISH DELICACIES ARE GOOD FOR YOUR SHELF
I FOUND myself in Edinburgh this week for a family event but took a moment to do what I always do when back in the land of my father. Just feast your eyes on the meat aisle in a local supermarket there.
It put my saliva glands into overdrive ogling all those Scottish delicacies like Lorne sausage, haggis, steak slice and the different black puddings.
And it always makes me wonder, why on earth can they not stock some of these delicious delicacies down here?
Eating fatty sausage meat products is a pastime shared by both our great nations. So come on Tesco , we need answers.
