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DORSET FLAG E-mail
 

ImageDorset has a new flag, voted for by its citizens in September 2008, called the Dorset Cross it satisfies the laws of vexillology and can now be flown with pride. To find out more about it or to purchase your own see www.flagfordorset.org.uk


Users' Comments (37) RSS feed comment
Posted by Liz, on 19-09-2008 19:12,
What's all this about a Dorset Flag? Nobody asked me! Perhaps we could fly it from the New Lidl Store!!
 

Posted by chickenboy, on 30-09-2008 20:23,
Dorset Flag spotted in Evershot - wind dropped just as I finally managed to use a long stick as a tripod using my camera phone. 
 

Posted by Stephen Coombs, on 04-10-2008 10:21,
Where have you been, Liz? Do you read a local newspaper? The county council HAVE asked you - and have held a vote - and the winner was the Dorset Flag (St. Wite's Cross) that has been seen quite a lot around Dorset over the last few months.
 

Posted by tuzo, on 04-10-2008 14:07,
where has she been/ not looking at flags stephen I am guessing.
 

Posted by Bentley, on 04-10-2008 15:43,
Oh No a "flag" for Dorset, are we all going to be expected to buy a bumper sticker version for our cars and garishly display our heritage like the jocks and the Cornish do??  
Will it only be "locals" that are allowed to fly the flag? Will incomers be allowed to fly one in their gardens to better help their ingratiate themselves with the locals?  
AS I am not a Dorset born and bred and therefore by default an incomer, will I be able to wear the flag on a tasteful T-shirt or baseball cap?. 
Why does Dorset need a flag? Are we planning to invade somewhere or climb something? 
I have never been a fan of flags and I don't understand this one either however my sources tell me that it has something to do with the colours of the old Dorset regiment. The four panels of gold are to represent the four golds of Dorset namely, Golden Cap, Gold Hill in Safetsbury, the cliffs at West Bay and the (wait for it) golden nature of the Dorset folk. I am speechless.
 

Posted by Carlito, on 06-10-2008 08:53,
Here here! Dorset doesn't need a flag. Dorset needs FREE BEER!
 

Posted by Stephen Coombs, on 06-10-2008 10:54,
What a lot of miserygutses (if that's the plural) my fellow Dorsetmen (and -women) seem to be. 
 
Nobody has to fly the flag. It hasn't cost the taxpayer anything apart from the cost of organising the vote. The vote was the idea of the County Council and that pretty unnecessary in my view and in the view of several other people involved in the campaign to make the flag known and available.  
 
If the flag campaign does ever make a surplus this will be given to charity.  
 
Cornwall and Devon have well known, widely accepted flags with crosses on them attached to saints' names and surely there's no reason on earth why Dorset people shouldn't have a similar option. So buck your ideas up - please.
 

Posted by tuzo, on 06-10-2008 14:55,
well stephen, i am quite prepared to "buck up my ideas" and even 'mind my ps and qs" If i had ever understood quite how to do these things, however on the subject of flags, what are they for? a serious question. 
you can put a small flag on the ariel of your car, and it will be easy to spot in large carpark, thats handy. but maybe it goes deeper into our psyche our old tribal roots..... I dont know?
 

Posted by Shibby, on 06-10-2008 16:35,
I am proud of my county and I fly the flag - when I go traveling I meet people who ask what flag it is and I can tell them of the wonderful county of Dorset (but don't even think of buying a second home there). Or I meet people who recognize that flag as their own and they will greet you as a brother. 
 
So there you go - the reason we fly a Dorset flag is to make friends and influence people and it do look purdy a'vludderin in the wind.
 

Posted by Bentley, on 06-10-2008 20:50,
Stephen Combes, You must be "avin a laaarf" mate. I have no idea what the devon flag looks like and have probably never seen one and considering we are only about 12 miles from the devon border I would have thought it a possibility. The Cornish (a weird lot who have never considered themselves to be English) have a flag that is well known only because it is easy to mix it up with the jock one.  
You also say that it didn't cost the taxpayer anything "APART FROM THE COST OF ORGANISING THE VOTE" so it did cost the council taxpayer something and the question is 'HOW MUCH?" 
In general you need to have a serious word with yourself.  
As for Shibbly, Proud is not really a term I could use for my feelings towards Dorset as what has it done to make me proud? Happy would better describe it, Happy to have lived here for the last 32 years and happy to have raised my kids here and also happy to look at the particular beauty that is West Dorset.  
As for flying the flag to boast of our beautiful county smacks a bit of those sad wasters who you see at airports ready to travel abroad with their england T shirts and trainers and shorts and baseball caps and all their gormless kids in the same get up.  
Flag waving!!! Isn't that how wars start.
 

Posted by Carlito, on 07-10-2008 09:00,
I suppose a flag representing the economic nightmare of house prices versus average earnings in a few colours on a flag would have been too tall an order? Perhaps an illustration of shattered lively hoods and ghost-town 2nd home villages was a bit tricky to depict? Surely a huge Pound-Sign looming over a beautiful green pasture (poundbury) would have been simpler? 
 
I can't help thinking that perhaps ££££'s spent on any vote at all could more wisely have been spent on voting FOR OR AGAINST A FLAG FULL-STOP. 
 
I assume the four gold squares will slowly shrink over time - in keeping with subsidence?
 

Posted by Stephen Coombs, on 07-10-2008 10:06,
Bentley makes some serious points but really they've got little to do with whether there should be a Dorset flag or not. 
 
The flag is for the people who want to make use of it. Nobody has to. It can't do Bentley any harm that others fly a Dorset flag. 
 
The vote was arranged and paid for by the council the Dorset people elected. The flag was in existence before the vote and would (I believe) have gained popularity and acceptance without the council intervening. If you don't like what the council did, complain to them, not to me and the other campaigners. 
 
Proud or happy? Once again, a matter for the individual. 
 
Football fans are sad wasters? A purely personal opinion. 
 
Flags start wars? No. Patriotic extremism may start wars, flags are only symbols. If Bentley wants he can become a peace activist - perhaps try to do away with all flags rather than pick on ours. Or he can get involved in the Dorset Flag campaign and help to make sure the flag doesn't get misused by the wrong people (though seriously I don't think there's much risk of that). 
 
There are lots of useful and positive things you can put your energy into instead of moaning about a flag you needn't have anything to do with if you don't want to.
 

Posted by tuzo, on 07-10-2008 13:57,
yes stephen, that energy spent elsewhere argument is like the less money on arms and more on world starvation issues.. it just never flew.. unlike the flag we talk of, too many individuals out there i suspect, and i think you are being gently teased...why was dorset so shy about hoisting thier own flag till now.. theres a question?
 

Posted by Bentley, on 07-10-2008 15:20,
There was me thinking that I was offering a different opinion (that’s what people do in debates) about the merits of a flag for Dorset, which personally I think is a waste of time, and I get accused of moaning by the self styled "champion of the flag"  
SC says “flags are only symbols. If Bentley wants he can become a peace activist - perhaps try to do away with all flags rather than pick on ours." 
Just for the record flags are not just symbols, historically they are "signals". The only symbolism that comes from a flag is that when you have planted it on land that you have invaded it symbolises that this land is now yours. To use a football analogy, it symbolises to the conquered people to "come and have a go if you think you hard enough" which, correct me if I am wrong, is war. 
If you are going to an international football match then it is fair enough to drape yourself in your countries flag however if you are going on holiday, to a foreign country, then at best it is rude and at worst it is a hostile act to wear your own countries flag. It has nothing to do with football it is just a case of good manners. 
I have checked my posts and at no stage did I say I wanted to do away with all flags but if I did yours would be on the list as well by association, wouldn't it?  
I would prefer peace to war but apart from arms manufacturers and lunatic fundamentalists (of any denomination you care to chose) who wouldn’t?  
I thank SC for all his advice and for encouraging me to do some useful and positive things with my energy however I consider it to be energy well spent in questioning the merits, if not the motives of the campaigners, of a half arsed scheme like a flag for Dorset.
 

Posted by Bentley, on 07-10-2008 15:30,
This is a scoop for Bridport Radio. 
I have recently been using my energy in a very "useful and positive" way and would like to share with SC and all the other flag wavers of how "flag friendly" I really am. 
I would like to announce my new business that I have set up in Palestine, Iraq, in fact most of the Middle East countries and any other political and religious hotspots around the world called "Flammable Flags". 
You only have to watch the news to see someone somewhere burning a flag of another country and occasionally people have trouble lighting these flags. Well mine come in a very flammable material that takes only a spark to burst into glorious flames. USA and UK flags are the biggest sellers but we do have flags of all nations ready should you wish to organise a demonstration, anywhere about anything, thats my motto.  
I have special demonstration packs tailor made for any mass uprising or demonstration that would call for a burning flag and I also do a nice sideline in Pyrogenic Presidents and Ignitable Effigies.  
Strangely I have had a lot of interest from people in Somerset, Devon, and Hampshire regarding the availability and cost of a flammable Dorset flag, isn't that how wars start??
 

Posted by goccibos, on 08-10-2008 06:43,
Bentley have you got any Devon and Somerset ones in stock? I thought I could pay my respects next time I'm down in Exeter Xmas shopping or chav spotting in yeovil!!
 

Posted by Carlito, on 08-10-2008 15:40,
News Flash: Spotted a Devon Flag in the rear view window of a car earlier today. It was green with a white cross with black edging (for those of you that give a flying fl*g). The trouble with these flags became immediately apparent when the bloody MORON spent 15 minutes trying to get his brand new Seat Ibiza into a passing spot without noticing that Mr White Van had reversed 1/2 a mile back down the road. I literally had to get out and tap on the window! "Er it appears that you're free to go!" I said. To which he replied "do you know where I can find Misterton"? By which time the white can had become bored waiting and was steadily advancing towards us.... 
 
The point being that as he was flying the Devon flag one is drawn to assume that everyone in Devon is equally oblivious to other road users (or at least can't get a car into a passing spot). Flags cause generalisation. How often have you seen someone with a US flag either on some clothing or a pin-badge and thought "wanker"...? 
 
Don't get me wrong - I'm not knocking Devon or it's people, infact to my knowledge I only know about 15 people from Devon so it's hard to draw a realistic judgement. 
 
Flags are signals - Bentley is bang-on. They either mean "THIS IS MINE" or "WE GIVE UP" or "DANGER".
 

Posted by Bentley, on 08-10-2008 15:40,
Plenty in stock my freind and I do a nice little line of "quick burn chav effergies" dressed in tastefull white shell suits with the trousers tucked into the socks. Classy!
 

Posted by DaveWhite, on 17-10-2008 11:53,
A few people have gotten caught up in a question of “Why does a county need a flag?”  
 
Here’s the answer – IT DOESN’T!  
 
No-one “needs” a flag, countries don’t need flags. It’s a convention that they fly them – it’s not even universal in origin but even Aborigines and American Indians have adopted flags.  
 
People enjoy flying flags, they catch the eye, they are colourful so can make things bright, none more so than the Dorset flag and if people enjoy waving them at rock concerts to indicate where they’re from, so what?  
 
There is a delightful photo, that shows a group of Dorset school kids up for a sporting competition at Wembley stadium, they are happily displaying the Dorset Cross and that to me is all that it is about….”Hi, we’re here, we’re from Dorset and we’re proud of it”…where is the harm in that?
 

Posted by Bentley, on 17-10-2008 17:50,
The previous post mentions that Aborigines and native American Indians have "adopted" flags, I take this to signify that they didn't bother to waste their time designing and making one, because historically they have no need for them. 
The "HARM" in waving a flag is that someone from somewhere else is likely to wave their flag and take umbridge at your flag and ...... well, that's how wars start.
 

Posted by Shibby, on 18-10-2008 07:57,
Oh yeah I can just see it now - a village fete on the Devon / Dorset border erupts into a bloody civil war because of some bunting. Get real Bentley, a flag is simply a harmless symbol of belonging. 
 
"Come an av a go if you think your ard enough, wiv your dirty red mud and your stoopid green, black and white flag"  
 
Yeah right.
 

Posted by DaveWhite, on 18-10-2008 12:19,
Sorry Bentley, but that's complete and utter rubbish. The Americans and Aborigines designed and adopted their own flags FFS.  
 
No war I've ever known was started because someone waved a flag at someone else. Else, wouldn't we be at constant war with Wales, Scotland and Cornwall? 
 
As Shibby says. Yea right.
 

Posted by DaveWhite, on 18-10-2008 16:52,
Carlito Colon said : "Flags are signals - Bentley is bang-on. They either mean "THIS IS MINE" or "WE GIVE UP" or "DANGER". " 
 
Really? So surely we're in for a World War at the next World Cup for football. Danger! Danger! 
 
We must have narrowly missed the apocalypse at the olympics!!!!
 

Posted by Carlito, on 20-10-2008 07:48,
Well well well! What a fine pair of tools you are Dave and Shibby. Flags don't LITERALLY start wars. Of course they don't. One flag doesn't poke the other with it's pole until the other strangles the other with it's rope etc. 
 
You might survive a walk around Baghdad if you are an American dressed in civilian clothes and are freindly and peaceful to the people you meet. 
 
Do that same walk waving a flag, and you may not last the 1st 100 yards. 
 
Flag waving is offensive. Waving, displaying, pushing your flag whilst you are visiting a different place and culture (and not officially representing your country as an athlete or diplomat etc.) is simply RUDE. It shows that a) you are proud of your country, but also b) you are insecure about your pride, and to re-enforce that point, you flag-wave in the face of all around you. It's like shouting your country's name repeatedly, so loud that you can't hear those around you, blocking them out. It's beligerent, obnoxious, dis-courtious and aggrevating, and if you can't see that then it's people like you that give the Brits a bad name abroad. 
 
The ONLY nation that I would exclude from this is Canadians. They typically wear a maple leaf SOMEWHERE on their attire so as not to be confused with Americans when abroad. Which is more than fair if you ask me!
 

Posted by DaveWhite, on 20-10-2008 11:18,
Well, from that then - the Irish, Scots and Welsh must be the most insecure and rudest people on the planet.
 

Posted by Carlito, on 20-10-2008 12:35,
YOU SAID IT!
 

Posted by Shibby, on 20-10-2008 13:37,
If you check the news Carlito we are already at war with Iraq so if you walk down a Baghdad street you may well get your head sawn off. If however you were flying a Dorset flag they may leave you well alone for fear of the "double hard" Dorset man and thousands of pounds (lb and £)of ordinance that will rain down on their heads. 
 
Flying our flag on (say) William Barnes' birthday is a far cry from aggressive, national front, union flag T shirt wearing skin heads. 
 
If you think the flying the Dorset flag offensive you should have kicked up before the vote, not afterwards.
 

Posted by Carlito, on 20-10-2008 13:47,
Judging by the over-rated Dorset tripe that mediocre poet churned out, then yes flying ANYTHING on his birthday would be offensive. And anyway as I said before, there never was a vote for or against having a flag. Having a flag at all had already been decided. It's like the people that live in Chideock being told that a by-pass is about to be built, and they all get to vote on the colour of the tarmac. 
 
Democracy sucks.
 

Posted by Rustic, on 20-10-2008 21:47,
Greetings again forum lovers, I have been out of the fray due to circumstances beyond my control and it would seem I am able to log on again at an opportune moment.  
Well done Carlito and Bentley for using a sensible voice of reason to drown out that pair of flag waving wooly liberals that are davewhite and shibby (sounds like some awful 70's folk duo)  
I have only just finished clearing up the vomit after reading of the picture that dw talked about of Dorset children waving the flag at some unnamed sporting event. That disgusts me as any Dorset kid worth his salt shouldn't be fannying about on the terraces waving a bit of material about but should be taking the opportunity get served at the many bars and chasing round after that posh city talent which is the traditional pursuit of the Dorset child, male or female.  
What has the Dorset youth come to that flag waving is their only fun.  
Rather than standing about waving a flag that only serves to inflate a few adult egos, what about the tradition of getting into as much trouble as possible and then barfing up on the school coach on the way back home.  
Flags indicate a hostile occupancy of space and if I thought flags were a good idea, which I don't, I wouod have one up thye flagpole in my garden that said "NO TO FLAGS
 

Posted by Stephen Coombs, on 21-10-2008 09:59,
Flags may sometimes seem provocative, but surely they are at least as often used and understood in a friendly way. Can we imagine the Olympic Games without flags (or some substitute for flags)?  
 
In practice, showing your own flag in foreign parts isn't taken as an insult, it's a sort of preliminary presentation of yourself, a sign that "here I am, an Englishman (or whatever)". I hate to think what sort of experiences can Carlito have had to justify the following: "It's like shouting your country's name repeatedly, so loud that you can't hear those around you, blocking them out. It's belligerent, obnoxious, discourteous and aggravating, and if you can't see that then it's people like you that give the Brits a bad name abroad." - Or perhaps there aren't any experiences there at all, just a squeamishness towards any kind of modest contentment in being and showing who you happen to be. Fortunately that sort of squeamishness is uncommon, among Britons, foreigners and even (dare I say it?) Dorset people.
 

Posted by Carlito, on 21-10-2008 14:45,
Oh I am flattered Stephen! I haven't been quoted like that for a while. I must be getting rusty.  
 
Please forgive me for slipping off topic for a moment, but isn't SPORT bollocks? Isn't life hard enough?! Why actually INVENT ways to struggle and compete with each other to stay occupied? Why do we support athletes? They spend all day doing something they thoroughly enjoy, they get dedicated one on one training, they do absolutely F-ALL for our society accept to relieve tax payers of billions of pounds for ego-driven events like the Olympics and they have the CHEEK to call themselves heroes! Thanks to an industry that they are deeply part of, billions of pounds are spent on supporting sports whilst people starve around the world! "Sorry you've lost 10,000 people to Aids this year South Africa but WELL DONE FOR WINNING THE SILVER IN THE LONG JUMP!"  
 
Anyway - back to flags - Stephen I gather you haven't really travelled have you? Or at least haven't travelled to anywhere remotely interesting. "here I am, an Englishman" en mass is insulting! Imagine a busy train station in Bangalore. You have 6000 indians all milling around, would you go up to every single one of them and without uttering a single word, simply say "I'm English" and then move on to the next one? Would you steal the tannoy from the announcer - stand proudly atop a nearby elephant and shout "I am English". No you wouldn't. You know why?! Because your assumption that people actually CARE is what is RUDE. If you went up to everyone and said "Hello, how are you. What is your name?...are you from bangalore? Where are you headed?..."...."oh ME? I'm from England..."...."no not London..." etc. etc. you would not only make many many friends, you would also be doing it for hours!  
 
ANYWAY - WHAT I AM TRYING TO SAY IS (although I fear it's being lost very quickly in an insane rant) look at that Cornish Flag bumper sticker and just think...THINK HONESTLY, do you smile and go "ah how nice...he's Cornish and he's so happy about it, he wants us all to know"...or do you think "FLAG FLYING TW*T". Go on...be honest with yourself!
 

Posted by Bentley, on 21-10-2008 17:55,
What a load of wishy washy blinkered (and dare I say it) incomer sounding kak is scoombes blurting out?  
Waving your flag on foreign soil is not a polite way of introducing yourself and saying "hello here I am a jolly decent English sort of chap" I haven't heard such complete drivelling dung since I attended the world drivelling dung championships. AS someone who works "abroad" I can assure scoombes, white and scwibbly that I would not stand much chance of having a "jolly good chat" with johnny foreigner should I be stupid enough to get my flag out and wave it about.  
In practically every country that I have visited in the last 10 years, mainly Asia and Africa, unfurling my flag would at best cost me serious injury and in many cases a rather horrible death.  
Even in my new home of France sporting the union jack in any of its guises either flag, t shirt, baseball cap (sic) or shorts is probably not the wisest of actions should you wish to be treated cordially. 
I find all flags offensive and banal in today’s intolerant society not just the Dorset flag. And as to the vote I have checked my UK mail and have received nothing from the council regarding voting on a flag.
 

Posted by Stephen Coombs, on 04-11-2008 10:28,
Obviously one CAN react to a national - or county - flag in the way Carlito and Bentley have been talking about, but why should anyone choose to? Flags - whether on clothes, cars or flagpoles - don't seem to me to provoke that sort of reaction in most people: can you prove that they do? 
 
Carlito's idea that I haven't travelled very much is hardly true (though of course it all depends what you mean by "much"). I've been based in Sweden since the mid-sixties, usually getting back to Dorset for Christmas and a month in the summer. I've spent a lot of holiday time in other West European countries, especially Spain and Portugal. I know half a dozen European languages. I take a daily look at television news programmes in French, German and Spanish. In my youth I hitch-hiked in Germany - Union Jacks and Star-Spangled Banners easly got hitch-hikers lifts at that time, but French and Italian hikers found it almost equally as easy. I spent last week in Vienna and over the last few years I've taken autumn breaks in Marseilles, Athens and Rome. And for all that time and in all kinds of situations I've never seen any evidence that national flags get a negative response from those who see them - onlookers tend either to like them or not to care one way or the other. What experiences have Carlito and Bentley had? Or did they develop their negative attitudes all on their own?
 

Posted by Bentley, on 04-11-2008 22:23,
I know that carlito has "been around a bit" and will; no doubt be only to pleased to respond. but in the meantime you will have to make do with me. So as you ask scoombes, I will, in order to bring you up to speed with how things are around the world should you be foolish enough you wave a British flag about, cover just the last 6 years of the countries I have worked in. (to list the last 35 years would sound like I was showing off and I don't have that much time to spare).  
The ones marked with a hash sign are where it would be "unwise" to display the English flag and /or the union jack. 
England, #scotland, #north and west wales, France, Holland, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, Azerbaijan, #Liberia, #Ivory Coast, Nigeria, #Cameroon, #Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, #Congo, #Democratic Republic of Congo, Cabinda #Angola, South Africa, Malaysia (#some parts), Singapore, Indonesia(#some parts) Borneo #East and West Timor, Australia. 
Due to our slavish, lick spittling, pathetic insistence on becoming the 53rd state of america and our involvement in the occupation of Muslim countries like Afghanistan and Iraq the union flag is associated with the starts and stripes. In the countries marked above, to fly our flag would result in at best a severe beating, and at worst being burnt alive or hacked to death with machetes. Words like “welcome my friend what a lovely looking flag, I can see you come in peace”, would not be often heard. Words like “die you infidel pig”, may be more usual. (In west Africa it would just be a robbery either fatal or otherwise as you are seen as part of the problem of robbing their own country and why so many local African people live in abject poverty while the country has billions of dollars a day coming in through natural resource exports. The fact that their own people are ripping them off is not as easy to target as a fralg wearing white face.) 
I am not suggesting it is “that bad” in all countries but due to world politics and our “special relationship with our special friend” across the water, our flag is now a target which makes people who wear or display it a target. 
I am sorry to disillusion you and tear the rose coloured spectacles from your eyes but in the last ten years or so the world has become a much more dangerous place and flying your flag in another countries space does not identify you as a jolly nice English sort of a chap it just makes you easier to identify and hit. So that’s why I don’t like flags.
 

Posted by Carlito, on 05-11-2008 15:00,
In addition scoombers, and in line with Mr B, I second all of that, and would like to point out that beyong the cosy confines of the nice bits of Europe, which is where I believe you have invested your time, the Union flag can indeed be a complete magnet for abuse.  
 
Not that I want to show-off either, but to list a handful (India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Turkey, UAE, West Indies, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, U.S., Mexico, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Thailand, Burma and Scotland) I'd say that quite of few of those destinations would have reacted badly to flag-bearing.  
 
On the tiny island of Flores/Indonesia for example the coast is predominatly Christian and the inland Muslim, and I'm not saying that all Muslims are flag burning bombers, and infact I find the Islamic philosophy one of the most poetic, beautiful and misunderstood religions out there, but these particular guys walk around with "We Love Osama" t-shirts (I'll find a photo and post it at some point)... Also, you have to be careful when you go to ex-empire countries. Indians are surprisingly proud of the British Empire history, and love most things British with a wonderful sense of humility, but the idea is you RESPECT that and don't wave a flag in their faces. Do it in Kenya, and watch your back mate! 
 
Scoombers this isn't a competition (and some of us are lucky with having been able to travel at all...) but it does seem that you have a very out-dated nostalgic viewpoint and, with effort not to sound too harsh, naiive. I am suprised about this because you must be at least 50, and one would assume you've had time to wise-up. Face it Scoombers, Nostalgia and open acts of Patriotism are old-hat and in today's world beyond the beautiful country of Sweden it isn't welcome in the slightest.
 

Posted by Stephen Coombs, on 07-11-2008 05:54,
Patriotism is what you make of it. If I ever waved a Union Jack or a St. George's Cross or a St. Wite's Cross or a Swedish flag it wouldn't be "in anyone's face". To me waving any of my own flags implies equal respect for other people's flags. I agree that in certain situations it could be taken the wrong way, and that in certain parts of the world one should be careful, but that doesn't make the flags themselves bad, simply the use we make of them. Having a Dorset flag to use if one wants to can't do any harm, surely?
 

Posted by Bentley, on 07-11-2008 20:04,
Obviously scoombes needs the comfort of thinking he belongs to somewhere and to that end has to "use" a flag to display that need. It would seem that scoombes has many flags and is happy to "use" them all to satisfy his desire to display his respect for other peoples flags. 
It sounds to me as though we have a case of a fundimentalist flag fetishism. I could go on but it would fly in the face (whoops there I go again) of reasoned and rational debate.
 

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