All Government Buildings to Fly Union Flag Every Day as a Sign of Patriotism and Britishness

Union Jack courtesy of Google Images

THE TELEGRAPH: Gordon Brown's order that all government buildings should fly the Union flag every day of the year shows how fast things are changing. When the Countryside Alliance was organising its last and biggest march in London in 2003, I suggested to it privately that every marcher should carry a Union flag. They had thought of this, they said, but had rejected it because nowadays the flag was associated with Right-wing extremism.

And so it came about that the largest and most patriotic of modern British protest movements effectively banned the national flag from its events. Yet today a Labour government wishes to wave that flag every day, from every pole. What is going on?

The answer is that "Britishness" - the very word was not much used until recently - now matters again. Flying the flag is only the first step to victory (more) By Charles Moore

Mark Alexander