PopCon Director, Mark Littlewood, notes that one sector of our otherwise flatlining economy seems to be thriving. If you’re a manufacturer of flags (specifically, the St George’s Cross or the Union Jack), you have been coining it over the last couple of weeks. Keep all your flags flying high! 

I’m happy to be able to share some welcome economic news with you in these troubled and depressing times.

One sector of our otherwise flatlining economy seems to be thriving. If you’re a manufacturer of flags (specifically, the St George’s Cross or the Union Jack), you have been coining it over the last couple of weeks.

According to one report, 50,000 such flags were sold over a three-day period this week. That’s pretty good going – especially considering there’s no major sporting event featuring England this summer (apologies in advance for offending anyone who will be glued to the Women’s Rugby Union World Cup).

The protests outside asylum hotels have taken on a carnival-type atmosphere. There is anger for sure but no sense of poisonous racism - just a steely determination. This has been helped by the presence of the Pink Ladies and I particularly like their slogan – “We’re not far right but we are not far wrong!”. I wish I’d thought of that for PopCon.

Of real interest to me over recent days has been to watch liberal-left commentators and pundits seek – and typically fail – to explain their attitude to flag waving. I heard one suggesting that it was fine to wave the Union Jack outside asylum hotels but the St George’s Cross? No, that wasn’t appropriate apparently. Why this should be the case wasn’t made at all clear.

Another suggested that the use of either flag should be cautiously welcomed - but only if it “united rather than divided us”.

This seems to completely misunderstand what a flag means. It unites a particular group, cohort or tribe – but also distinguishes its bearer from other groups, cohorts and tribes.

As an obsessive football fan, I own many more Southampton FC shirts, scarves, caps and badges than I do British/English flags (although I do have several of the latter). 

When I wear any item from my (ridiculously extensive) collection of Saints clothing, I’m not advertising that I am broadly sympatico with the many hundreds of millions of people across the globe who have a general interest in association football. Absolutely not. Instead, I’m displaying my specific loyalty to Southampton FC and my comradeship with those long-suffering souls who share my allegiance.

In much the same way, our flags show BOTH unity AND difference. This causes a mixture of distress and confusion for those of a universalist liberal mindset who cling to the bizarre concept that all peoples and cultures are exactly the same.

Diversity (in its literal rather than DEI sense) - not dull conformity – is something to cherish. I just wish we had a proper English phrase for “vive la difference”.

Keep all your flags flying high!