Britain’s Flag Wars Fly in the Face of National Self-Loathing

The European Conservative ^ | 21 Aug, 2025 | Lauren Smith

[MtnClimber]

A patriotic grassroots movement called Operation Raise the Colours is fighting back against the idea that it is racist or hateful to fly your country’s own flag.

Until a few weeks ago, you were more likely to see a Palestinian, Ukrainian, or LGBT pride flag flying in London than to see any of the UK’s own colours. Now, thanks to a grassroots movement called Operation Raise the Colours, that could be changing.

Union Jacks and St. George’s flags have been cropping up across the country over the last few weeks, being hung on lampposts by groups of patriots. The movement appears to have begun in Birmingham, organised online, before spreading to Norwich, Bradford, Newcastle, Swindon, and even London.

As you might expect, the flags are being swiftly removed by local councils. Birmingham’s Labour-run city council started pulling them down last week, citing health-and-safety concerns. The flags, fixed to lampposts 25 ft in the air, apparently put the lives of motorists and pedestrians “at risk.” This might have been a believable, if idiotic, excuse had the same council not allowed Palestinian flags to fly across the city—which is almost 30% Muslim—unhindered since October 7th, 2023. This is also the same council that, just last week, lit the city’s library up in green and white to celebrate Pakistan’s independence day. Birmingham City Council officials were even caught admitting in leaked emails earlier this year that they were too scared to take down the Palestinian flags without police assistance.

This week, the flashpoint for the flag wars was the East London borough of Tower Hamlets. The local authority, run by the pro-Gaza Aspire Party, has promised to remove any Union Jacks or St. George’s Crosses from council infrastructure “as soon as possible.” Tower Hamlets and its mayor, Lutfur Rahman, are

[jmcenanly]

It is part of the “open society” ethic. The idea was pushed, after WWII, that nationalism was too dangerous to be allowed. No “intense passion” should be allowed, as it inflamed people into war

It was that"intense passion" that gave the people the strength and will to fight back. Of course, that is the last thing that these pale shades of tyrants past would want.