The Loughborough area has been awash with flags. You can’t have failed to notice them. Not many are flying in Barrow although we have had red crosses daubed on mini-roundabouts and zebra crossings in the village. They have caused a variety of reactions and I have been talking and listening to different people to find out their different views.
On one side of the argument people have said that we should fly our national flags (Union and St George) with pride. They are our country’s flags. They are our flags. It is patriotic. One gentleman, who flies a flag in his garden, told me “I’m new to Barrow but I have flown a flag for over 30 years. I’m English and proud of it.” He is not doing it as part of the new social media craze Operation Raise the Colours.
On the other hand, the argument goes, it’s just not ‘British’. We are a people of quiet patriotism. We fly our flags with pride on occasions like the Olympic games, rugby and football world cups. Many of us cheer for the royal family and we love it when any of our tennis players gets anywhere near a Wimbledon final. But that’s it.
I’ve only ever seen it like this before on the streets of Belfast where streets are clearly defined for one group or another - but never both or all.
Barrow Voice asked our new county councillor Paul Rudkin and our MP, Jeevun Sandher, for comment. Paul did not reply but Jeevun responded saying, "We're all proud of our flag - my wife served wearing it. We have every right to fly it in our homes or flagpoles. But recently, flags have been appearing on every lamppost in some parts of the constituency, often overnight. I take people at their word that it is about national pride, but I've heard in my inbox how people feel uncomfortable. When flags go up on lampposts in the dead of night, some see it as a message about who belongs here. Our flag shouldn't make anyone feel that way. They can also come loose onto cars, and the County Council accept that they are illegal. Britishness means unity, decency, and looking out for one another. Let's fly our flag proudly, but from homes and flagpoles, but not every lamppost."
The leader of our county council, Dan Harrison, told a BBC news story that he recognises it is an offence to attach anything to a street light without permission but said that the highway teams will “only step in if flags attached to lamp-posts, or other street furniture pose a serious risk.” Painting on mini-roundabouts and crossings is graffti and vandalism, which is illegal.
Karisa Krcmar