'We're still here. We still exist'
Growing nationalist sentiment is rooted in alienation and loss, not xenophobia
You probably won’t agree with all of Mr Embery’s policy prescriptions, but he will force you to think outside your usual political grooves — Wall Street Journal
WHAT IS IT about our national flag that brings out such hypocrisy in the metropolitan elites? Why do these people, who seem entirely relaxed about the display of virtually every other kind of flag, even politically contentious or divisive ones, exhibit such hostility towards the colours of their own nation?
In recent days, Oxfordshire county council became the first local authority to successfully impose a legal ban on the placement of flags on lampposts, after activists from the ‘Raise the Colours’ campaign had festooned some streets with the Union Jack and St George’s Cross.
The council is run by – no surprises here – the Liberal Democrats. In the high court, where it was seeking an injunction against the activists, the council claimed that the display of flags from roadside infrastructure gave rise to serious safety concerns.
But its leader, Tim Bearder, had already disclosed what appeared to be the real reason for the ban, telling the media before the court hearing that the flags were creating ‘fear and division’ in local communities.
Because that’s the true agenda here, isn’t it? It isn’t really about ‘safety’. This was a political manoeuvre by a council led by a group of cosmopolitan universalists who despise any expression of old-fashioned patriotism by working-class members of the majority culture. They see such sentiments as vulgar, reactionary and thoroughly at odds with a modern, diverse country that is obliged to feel permanent guilt for its imperial past.
Oxfordshire isn’t alone. Councillors in Bristol – Greens, this time – have been trying to prohibit public displays of the St George’s Cross on local streets during the World Cup. Justifying the council’s actions, leader Tony Dyer said that the city must remain ‘welcoming, respectful and safe for everyone during the tournament’.
Meanwhile, liberal politicians and commentators across the country can be found engaging in similar handwringing over the explosion of national flags on local streets. Like the Oxfordshire and Bristol councillors, they see the whole thing as intimidating towards minorities and want it stopped.
But if what these people claim is true – that some communities are alarmed and offended by the presence of national flags in their neighbourhoods – then our problems as a country run deeper than we realise. There should be no part of Britain where the display of a national flag is unwelcome, or where a particular group of local citizens have a veto over whether it may be flown. The flag is the official standard of our nation and represents who we are collectively. If such places do exist, we are entitled to ask why.
After all, weren’t we told that multiculturalism would create a vibrant and harmonious melting pot in which people from all backgrounds could consider themselves British and become part of the fabric of our nation? Is diversity not our strength? Do some citizens actually consider themselves so un-British that they object to the appearance of the national flag in their community? Wasn’t it necessary to reclaim the flag from the far-right because ‘it belongs to all of us’? Was everything we were told about these things a big fat lie?
Some flags are, in the eyes of the metropolitan elites, perfectly fine, of course. The people who shout loudest about the ‘Raise the Colours’ campaign seem perfectly happy with the proliferation, including on our public buildings, of Ukrainian or Palestinian or Pride or EU flags. On social media, they will often have all these flags, and more, emblazoned across their profiles. But when Dave the brickie fixes the St George’s Cross to a lamppost in some northern post-industrial town – well, they go into total meltdown.
I do not know of any other country whose ruling classes are so heavily populated by people so keen to trash the history and traditions of their own homeland, or who bear such hostility towards basic expressions of patriotism by ordinary citizens.
The great George Orwell had the liberal intelligentsia marked out eight decades ago, when he wrote: ‘England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality. In left-wing circles, it is always felt that there is something slightly disgraceful in being an Englishman, and that it is a duty to snigger at every English institution, from horse racing to suet puddings.’
At the weekend, I returned to my hometown of Dagenham to do some filming for a TV documentary. It is one of those ‘left behind’ areas that has experienced massive cultural transformation and voted overwhelmingly for Brexit. There were plenty of national flags flying from lampposts. Spotting me and the camera crew, a local shopkeeper called out: ‘We’re still here. We still exist.’
In those words, he summed up what ‘Raise the Colours’ is all about. It is not a crusade designed to intimidate or exclude. It is instead a campaign intended to alert a tin-eared political class to the fact that millions of proud native Britons are angry at changes inflicted on their country – economic, social and cultural – that they did not ask for and which have made their lives far more challenging.
They are still here. They do still exist. And no matter the attempts by that same political class to curtail their activities, neither they, nor their grievances, are going away.
A reminder that you can follow me on ‘X’: @PaulEmbery
An edited version of the above piece first appeared on the GB News website.
Very good ... this sums up my feelings exactly ... thank you
Orwell ... spot on as ever!