Flags just aren’t very… British

What kind of countries make a big big deal about their flags?

Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of countries that tend to do this.

First: Young countries, immature states whose sense of identity is weak. Lacking a depth of history or culture, they need to contrive a national story — with symbols that they can pledge allegiance to given that they lack a unifying set of values, developed over time, to give them a sense of nationhood that they fear maybe absent in reality.

Second: Countries that desperately need to rebrand having disgraced themselves, usually by a period of totalitarian rule. To re-establish themselves with refreshed values, they seek new symbols that represent a kind of public repentance and a determination to be different.

The UK is neither of these. With a heritage so deep and complex you could get lost in it , the UK is the most mature of countries with a history that shapes us and is authentic. We don’t panic over the fact that we don’t agree with every decision our leaders ever made because our culture is rich, and our sense of nationhood is secure.

We have not undergone a period of fascist rule that we need to distance ourselves from. We are Great Britain and we are comfortable in our own skin, no contrived symbolism needed here. We’re British and we are sniffy about zealotry of any kind, indeed we are above all that. We have a flag. We’re proud of it and we wave it at state visits, jubilees, and world cups… but we aren’t obsessed with it because we don’t need to be because, as I said, we’re British.

Which means that those who do endlessly bang on about flags don’t really understand Britain. And as we all know, you cannot truly love what you do not understand.

I like my flag, but I love my country. So, shall we all just calm down a bit? Stiff upper lip and all that!