It's our National Flag, so fly it correctly

by Craig Chapman - 12:50 on 25 July 2008

Why can so many UK citizens not fly our Union Jack flag the right way around ? 

I cannot imagine the uproar if the Stars and Stripes were to be flown with the stars at the bottom, or if the German tricolour was flown with the yellow on top, and yet I see endless Union Jacks flown upside down – outside hotels, along high streets, on roadside burger vans, on TV at national events – and yet no-one says a damn thing. 

The common answer when told is along the lines of, “oh, is it ? I didn’t know there was right way. Oh fancy that……” AAARRRGGHHHH !! 

The Union Jack has broader white borders on one side of the red criss-cross and narrower white borders on the other side. 

When flown from a flag pole, the broader white border must be on top, closest to the flag pole. When represented as a picture or as a Union Jack flag lying against a surface, the broader white border should be on the left side.  

Going back to war times, an incorrectly flown Union Jack was used to warn of danger. 

Locally, I have noted the village of Tutbury near Burton on Trent flying 20+ Union Jacks along its main street. I counted 14 of these flown upside down. The nearby village of Anslow also had its Union Jack the wrong way round this week. 

I recall the World Indoor Athletics from Birmingham regularly had British athletes scratching their noses and fidgeting infront of flags that technically warned of impending danger. I telephoned the venue and complained but the succession of people I spoke to (mostly immigrants) didn’t understand a word I was saying. I wrote to the British Athletics Association and didn’t even get a reply. 

I blame schools (full of Liberal teachers), TV and the general lazy, embarrassment so many have about being British and what that means. Perhaps if one of the gold medal winners stood up and said something about the flag they are standing under, it might be heard more loudly.

There are many ridiculous laws and rules being passed and thrown into our world at the moment, however I do believe it should be an illegal activity to fly our national flag upside down.

Update 11th August : It is really pleasing to see the Chinese organisers flying our national flag correctly at the Olympics - they put many of our own citizens to shame.

Watching the Swimming from Beijing, we had (Dame ???) Becky Adlington winning 2 gold medals, meanwhile some plonker in the crowd is waving avidly with our national flag upside down on its pole. Who are these people, are they not embarrassed that they don't know their own national flag ? Our schools system is as much to blame for not instilling this information in our brains at an early age, but then again, the Liberal educators in this country would prefer us to wave either white flags or the blue tea towel with a circle of gold stars.

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