flying the flag
Emily Thornberry, she of “image from #Rochester” tweet fame is obviously a very silly person. As shadow attorney general, Labour MP for Islington, and a human rights lawyer, only she knows why she posted such a picture and who knows what she was looking to gain out of the exercise? But there is no denying what she trying to say – Look at these fascist dummies with their flags and white vans and look how they’ve just delivered another by-election win to those bad-boys of British politics, UKIP.
Quite rightly she was sacked, for being stupid whilst in a public position of authority but was she wrong? Some time after the furore I saw said owner of flags and van being interviewed and he proudly stated in an aggressive, arrogant and self-righteous manner that he’d never voted, wasn’t intending to do so anytime soon and couldn’t explain himself without swearing vociferously. Nice. If he was my neighbour I’d probably sell up and move. See, the issue for me is that I have a problem with the flag of St George. Having grown up in the industrial north during the 70s and 80s the flag became the symbol of, initially, the National Front and latterly, the British National Party. Anyone flying the flag during those times was absolutely making the point of ‘Pakis go home’. Fast-forward a couple of years and now the only time I see it is either at UKIP rallies or on the terraces of European football stadia where ‘our boys’ are upholding the honour of our home team by boozing to excess and laying waste to city centres. Please forgive me for being a tad suspicious of the current flag waivers but how exactly am I to know the difference?
