The flags are out

Over the last week, the wave of little St George's Cross car flags has begun to arrive. Increasing numbers on the streets every time I venture out.

You often hear claim that we've "reclaimed the flag" from the far right; that it's no longer the emblem of the BNP and the racists. I think this is slightly missing the point.

Firstly, of course, the BNP are primarily about the Union Flag, not the St George's Cross. There is no reason to reclaim it from them, because they never had it.

But, also, it is fairly apparent that when you look at the kinds of vehicles that are flying the St George's flag that they're primarily white vans, or cars driven by the kinds of blokes you might expect to see in white vans. Whilst I'm pretty sure that most of these people are, in fact, lovely, tolerant, reasonable nice people (when they're not behind the wheels of their white vans, obviously), they are also the kinds of people who would traditionally be associated with working class racism: they are the natural constituency that the Nick Griffins of this world try to appeal to. And I wonder if we can really think the flag has been reclaimed until a wider group of people start flying it.

Then again - apart from supporting national sports teams, I wonder why on earth anyone would want to reclaim the flag. Why should we fetishise a bit of cloth? When I'm in the US and see myriad star spangled banners flying everywhere, it doesn't move me, and I get a feeling that it doesn't really offer anything of any value to anyone. The flag itself is archaic (as, arguable, are nationalism and patriotism, although that's a much deeper discussion).

We should think of it as purely a football symbol; like wearing the shirt. Once it becomes the flag of the England Sports Teams, rather than the flag of the country, then we can start to believe that it really doesn't carry any other racist meaning.

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As a little addendum, here's a silly story about someone being kicked off the bus for wearing an England shirt. First - it didn't happen, but apparently that doesn't stop the Metro pushing the "It's PC Gone Mad" line, as the media desperately try and push this sort of rubbish on the most tenuous of links. Second - it is worth remembering that the England shirt does still carry some baggage, and people will have some trepidation when faced with blokes (OK, not 2 year olds...) wearing it.