Suddenly the English Nation Is Astir
In Praise Of Patriotism
The legacy media has for decades communicated a narrative of doom about the prospects of Britain in general and of England in particular. Typical of this approach are the commentaries in The New York Times and The Guardian. ‘Britain is undergoing a full-blown identity crisis’, gloated a New York Times reporter, before adding, that, it is a “hollowed-out country,” “ill at ease with itself,” “deeply provincial,” and engaged in a “controlled suicide”[i].
The phrase ‘deeply provincial’ is usually hurled at those people who take pride in their country and have no inhibition about voicing their patriotic sentiments. There is a growing tendency in the international media to portray Britain as a failed state, a nation of incorrigible xenophobes, who cannot let go of their racist and imperialist past. Unfortunately this sentiment is fully shared by Britain’s cultural elites who reagard any manifestation of national pride and patriotism with contempt
Until recently, the cultural crusade against Britishness was rarely challenged. Occasionally, the sense of frustration at the derision directed against a particular British custom led to a backlash. The outcry provoked by the BBC’s announcement that Rule Britannia will not be sung at the Proms was an example of such a reaction. However, experience shows that a backlash is rarely able to match the force to which it reacts. It is entirely reactive and defensive.
The campaign to undermine the moral status of Britain has been so remarkably successful because the field of battle on which this cultural conflict is fought out has been abandoned by its elites. A significant section of the British establishment feels detached from its own culture and past. The principal cultural institutions that create and communicate ideas – the universities, the media, the church – have lost the capacity to generate loyalty and pride towards the society that they meant to serve. In many instances they feel alienated from the historical legacy of Britain to the point that they unwittingly – sometimes wittingly – communicate the proposition that the attempt to defend Britain is itself, indefensible.
Finally the dominant narrative that represents Britishness as toxic and its past as history of shame has been challenged!
England is astir
Suddenly flagging has become a big thing in England. Out of nowhere a social media driven grassroots movement of flaggers has emerged. Throughout England groups of newly emerging activist are hanging flag on lamp posts and painting red crosses on roundabouts.
Even in my sleepy town of Faversham, Kent the English flag of St. George could be seen one pole after another waving in the wind. One flagger tells me that ‘we want to make sure that our town becomes proud of its national heritage’. Another tells me, ‘raising the flag helps make us feel at home’,
There is little doubt the people supporting Operation Raise the Colours are not just in the business of confining their activities to one-off stunts. At the very least this grass roots movement is determined to challenge the nation’s local councils to value the English flag of St George and to cease being hostile to the flying of the Union Jack.
The movement of flaggers took off in Birmingham. Probably this movement would not have gained such prominence if it hadn’t been for the reaction of Birmingham’s Labour dominated Local Council to the sight of England’s flag flying of the city’s lamp post. The Council reacted by ordering the removal of the flags on the ground that they put the lives of pedestrians and motorists “at risk” despite being up to 25ft off the ground! It was evident to all that this Council applied a different standard of judgment in relation to the Palestinian flag, which are flown all over the City.
Birmingham’s flaggers, who call themselves the `Weoley Warriors’ stated that their goal was to ‘show Birmingham and the rest of the country of how proud we are of our history, freedoms and achievements’[ii]. One local resident, Mrs Owens, a former police officer told the media; ‘I think there will be trouble, even riots if they take them down,’. She added: ‘We are sick of having to apologise for being British. The flags have had such a positive impact on the community – people love them. There is nothing political about it.’
There is little doubt that Mrs Owens message has resonated with wide sections of the public. [iii]. Supporters of the movement indicated that they were fed up with the situation where local councils were happy to fly the Palestinian and LGBTQ flags but not that of their nation. The movement of flaggers quickly spread from Birmingham to towns and cities throughout England. ‘Let’s bring back patriotism once and for all’, stated the Facebook page of Operation Raise the Colours’, It urged members to post images of the assorted national flags of the four British nations ‘being raised around our great towns and cities’. In response groups individuals decided to form groups who took it upon themselves go out and do what they call ‘flagging’ around their town.
There is also no doubt that the flaggers have provoked a hostile reaction from large sections of the British Elite, who regard the flaggers with contempt and never use an opportunity to issue warnings about the threat post by far-right conspirators lurking in the background. This alarmist rection was personified by Nick Ireland, the Liberal Democrat leader of Dorset Council who insisted that some residents found the sudden appearance St George’s and union flags ‘intimidating’. He added that it was ‘naïve’ to suggest that these emblems had not been ‘hijacked’ by some far-right groups.
Nick Ireland and other sections of the ‘patriotism is dangerous’ brigade never stop to ask the question of why members of the public find symbols of the nation they inhabit intimidating. Nor does he consider why it is ok for his Council to fly the flags of Ukraine, Palestine and Pride but not those of his own nation. The reason why some members of the public find England’s flag intimidating is because the British Establishment has for decades treated this symbol of English nationalism with contempt. The message they communicated is that only simple-minded fools, football hooligans or far right nutters could associate themselves with St George’s flag.
Yet the people supporting the flaggers are normal working people who are fed up with being made to feel strangers in their own home. But there is little doubt that the mainstream media’s accusation that this movement was racist and organized by the far right had an impact on the participants of Operation Raise the Colours.
When I interviewed the people going around and raising the flag of St George on the lamppost of Faversham, I was struck by their initial defensive justification of their action. They spent the first two minutes of our discussion trying to reassure me that they were not racist, but patriots fed up with the way their flag was devalued. It was only after I explained that I was on their side and supported their objectives that they felt confident to drop the ‘we are not racist’ rhetoric and discuss the concerns that motivated them.
They explained that they were hoping to bring back patriotism so that people could feel pride in their community and in the achievements of their ancestors. This point was later echoed by Joseph Moulton one of the organisers of Flag Force UK who told a television interviewer that he encouraged people to not just do the flagging but to use it as a ‘gateway to actually building the communities… doing the litter picking, helping the food banks, looking after vulnerable people’[iv].
What struck me about my conversation with the Faversham flaggers was that they were a group of committed men and women who were struggling to find their voice. None of them were previously politically active. They knew that what they were doing mattered and was important to their community, but they also understood that they were confronted with powerful forces that were ready to belittle their behaviour and distort their message. Yet they were excited by the realisation that their campaign gained so much support. ‘I am giddy because for the first time in my life I feel that what I do really is important’ stated Lizzie, a young mother of two children’. Her husband Joe indicated that they were doing this for their children so that they can feel that Faversham is their home.
The people participating in the flagging movement were clearly in the midst of finding their voice. I felt that they were halfway there. They had taken a gigantic step forward, but they had not yet been able to work out a compelling argument justifying their cause.
Nevertheless, the Faversham flaggers like their comrades up and down the country have succeeded in making their voices heard. Even sections of Britain’s political establishment who regard the movement of flaggers with contempt have been forced to concede that it is actually OK to fly the flag of St George. Though reluctantly, even the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer fell in line. Backing the right of the public to fly the flag, he remarked that patriotism ‘will always be an important thing’. Starmer too must have realised that something important was astir and that the rebirth of English patriotism had become a fact of life.
Until recently, the absence of a counter-narrative to the ‘diseasing’ of Britain has silenced millions of people, who deeply care about their community and culture. Now, finally groups of people of England are finding their voice. Will they succeed in awakening a sense of patriotism amongst the wider public? That depends on public minded citizens joining this campaign and developing a counter-cultural movement that can challenge the outlook of Britain’s cultural elites.
I am optimistic that a blow for freedom has been struck. What at issue is not just about flags but about the emergence of a sense of national solidarity, one that provides people with a common grammar of meaning.
[i] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/04/sunday-review/britain-identity-crisis.html
[ii] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/08/14/labour-council-remove-dangerous-british-flags/
[iii] For a discussion of this revolt https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/08/20/how-flying-the-flag-became-a-symbol-of-revolt/
[iv] https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/society/2025/08/flags-and-loathing-in-birmingham
"There is a growing tendency in the international media to portray Britain as . . . . a nation of incorrigible xenophobes, who cannot let go of their racist and imperialist past. Unfortunately this sentiment is fully shared by Britain’s cultural elites who regard any manifestation of national pride and patriotism with contempt." So writes Frank Furedi in his most recent essay,
It is almost impossible not to notice that if one were to replace the words "Britain," and "Britain's" with "America" and "American's," the paragraph would be equally true. This suggests that the British and the American people are fighting the same fight against the same cultural foes. Americans, their patriotism and symbols have likewise been held in contempt by many of the nation's cultural and governing elites for decades. They are Hillary Clinton's "deplorables." It does however seem that the effort to all eliminate all pride in being British has advanced much further in the UK than in the United States. Indeed, one might argue that when the American people elected Donald Trump president in 2016, it was their way of repudiating their own disdainful elites and reasserting their patriotic pride.
We Americans have partially succeeded. We have won a couple of battles, but the war against globalist autocracy continues. When the British people voted in favor of Brexit, they were repudiating their globalist elites. But unlike MAGA, they were thwarted by their own political system. Now, it appears that a new battle is underway in Britain. We cannot be indifferent to the fate of freedom in the UK, or elsewhere in Europe for that matter. The United States cannot be the sole bastion of freedom in a world of autocracies.
As Americans, it might be tempting to say of the British, "who cares about their fate"? After all, the UK is a foreign country. This may be especially true if one's ethnic roots lie elsewhere than in Britain. But that would be a mistake. Our cultural and political roots as Americans are all firmly planted in British soil. We are the offspring, illegitimate perhaps, of the British people, and their fate is likely to be ours. We must encourage the British people as they strive to regain sovereignty in their own land.
Grounds for optimism indeed, though one hopes it does not peter out and that flags taken down are replaced quickly (so that councils give up playing whack-a-mole). And what is the age profile of flaggers? Are they supported by today's youth, the product of modern anti-patriotic education?
One supects it is largely generational, provincial and class based. Just amatter of time for the establishment to weather the storm? A last hurrah, a swan song, for England?