This reminds me of an incident that occured when I was doing my A-levels at boarding school-
I had a Union Jack flag hung up in the top section of one of those double pane sash windows, which overlooked a communal quadrangle formed by the various boarding houses and dinning hall buildings.
Many pupils boarding at the school also had various flags in the windows of their dormitories, including such flags as the Japanese Rising Sun, the Hammer & Sicle and various civil war (U.S) and other national emblems both past and present. It was something of a fad back then, as I recall
Anyways, I was approached by my Housemaster after a time. He was a short bespectacled man with immaculately combed hair, who tought mathematics. Mervin Dale- a Yorkshireman, as irony would have it hehe.
He wanted to have a 'chat' with me about "Your window decoration..." and could I stop by his office at break.
I have to say I was supprised and somewhat taken aback when he asked me if I could take the flag down from the window and hang it somewhere out of view. Initially I rejected this and then asked why I should do so.
I was told that he'd had a complaint from a visiting/prospective parent, who thought the flag was too nationalistic and therefore ought to be removed.
The upshot of this little tale is that I did not remove the flag and it was confiscated a couple of days later, though it was returned after about 2 weeks, on the condition I would not put it back in the window. Oh well, at least I had hung it up in the correct way, which is more than could be said for most.
So, there you have it; my first brush with the PC crowd. It seems strange to me in these times where nationality appears to be all about what you are now, not nessescarily what you
were, that we Brits have a much deflated sense of national pride in some sense. And no, I'm not counting football yobbery here. Maybe it's just me, but it's almost like these days you have to be kindof appologetic for being British. I don't know whether this is due to the long past days of the 'evil empire'
or some other more modern zenophobic association with the emblem- I remember a playground song heard at junior school, something childish like 'there's no more black in the union jack, so all you p**** can **** off back'. I never understood it then, but am all too aware of it now. Indeed I don't need do-gooders and multicultural spinn to inform me that this is a noxious thing to say about anybody, a mindful upbringing saw to that.
Perhaps we're getting to be an apathetic lot at heart :hmm: but it sure feels like it; when compared to many other countries we lack a certain passion these days when it comes to nationality.
Given all that, will the Flag of the Union see a five-hundredth birthday?