by Hugo Timms, spiked
Council jobsworths are trying to criminalise patriotism.
The war on the England flag is gathering steam. This week, Birmingham City Council – the biggest local authority in the UK – announced its intention to criminalise public displays of patriotism. It considers the threat of the St George’s Cross to be so serious that it is even taking the matter to the High Court.
Birmingham – like the other local councils that have taken similar measures – has tried to play down any link between its actions and the English flag. It says it is only trying to ‘prohibit unauthorised attachments’ that might appear on the city’s highways, such as ‘flags and banners’. But this is not fooling anyone. Indeed, a statement provided by Green councillor Jane Baston defending the ban – citing ‘community cohesion’ and ‘public safety’ – tells us all we need to know.
Last summer’s Raise the Colours campaign – the grass-roots movement that attached Union Jacks and St George’s Crosses to street lights across England – never sat easily with the woke jobsworths that now dominate local councils. In April, Oxfordshire County Council announced that it would take ‘civil and criminal proceedings’ against anyone found to have hoisted a national flag on council property. Council leader Liz Leffman said the proliferation of English flags had left locals feeling ‘distressed, unwelcome and unsafe in their own communities’. So the flags had to go.
Then it was Bristol’s turn. Disturbed by the outpouring of national pride inspired by the World Cup, the Greens-led council issued its own fatwa on the English flag. This, we were told, was to ensure that Bristol remained ‘welcoming, respectful and safe for everyone during the tournament’. So English people, living in England, had to curb their enthusiasm for the England football team, lest any migrants take offence at the national flag of the country they had chosen to live in.