Police Replace Union Flag with Gay Banner
Pride: The rainbow flag was raised in support of International Day Against Homophobia. Photo courtesy of MailOnline
MAIL Online: Dozens of police stations lowered the Union Flag and replaced it with a gay rights banner to mark a day of action against homophobia.

One police chief said the rainbow flag demonstrated his force's support for homosexuals who felt they were victims of prejudice.

But critics warned that it was dangerous for forces to show support for particular campaigns.

Earlier this year, Britain's most senior policeman ordered his force not to fly any flags in support of individual groups.

Sir Paul Stephenson, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, instructed officers to remove a rainbow flag which had replaced a Union Flag at Limehouse police station, in East London, to mark Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender history month.

But elsewhere, four forces flew the gay rights flag at the weekend to mark International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia - the prejudice against transsexuals. >>> By James Tozer and Arthur Martin | Monday, May 18, 2009

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