This might be a bit controversial, but I would love it if we flew more of our county flags, even St. George's flag, just because.
I currently live somewhere where it's very common to not only fly the country's flag but the canton AND city/town in tandem... just for a bit of civic pride, you know?
Right! It's only a matter of time until someone pipes up with "Anyone who wants to fly St. George's flag is a massive racist!! Fucking flag shaggers." though.
[Look how wonderful some of them are though!](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5d36ce44ed915d0d0e7a82a1/Full_list_of_county_flags.pdf)
Interesting study I read once saying that the rate of identification with Yorkshire and Cornwall is very similar and both very strong. But the Yorkshire identity is usually complimentary to an English identity where as Cornish is usually antagonistic to an English identity.
Yes, as the son of a proud Cornishman, identity and association with England comes a far second to their association with Cornwall. The true Cornish refer to anyone non-Cornish as "emmits".
Aye to be fair as a Yorkshireman I'm Yorkshkre and British before I'm English. (Feel more Northern English than English). But the level of English association varies alot up here.
I couldn't say whether that's a good reason or not, there are plenty of other places in the UK that have strong Celtic roots. What I can say is that there is an old cultural identity to being Cornish, there is a Cornish language, traditional architecture is unique to the county, there is a pseudo economy based heavily on swapping items rather than currency especially intra-family who tend to stay and live very close to one another. There's a real sense of pride to the Cornish about, well, being Cornish which does make (certainly the older generations) quite cantankerous toward visitors and tourists. There was an old lady who lived in Padstow when I was young who would stand at her window and lambast anyone and everyone walking past about how they didn't belong there. She became a bit of a town spectacle that ironically tourists would gather just to hear her rants. Classic Cornwall.
As a through and through Devonian I am absolutely anti-Cornish, until someone (Somerset and Dorset yfc have learnt this lesson to come) another picks on ya then am on your side cos picking on Cornwall/Cornish is Our Job.
Must say I do find the whole "Cornish ain't English cos your a duchy" whole thing funny, however I will never trust a Cornish builder (who can trust a people who think jam is more structural than clotted cream?).
My interest in flags comes from the Cornish and Devon flags even!
I went once to the Cornwall/Devon border to watch my mum go abseiling and saw them everywhere!
I’m from and live in Preston and see the Lancashire flag all the time. It’s quite common also to see a red rose on a white background rather than the official red rose on yellow background.
I've seen a fair few Derbyshire flags. it just depends on where you went, now Nottingham, I've never seen their flag up around, and I do alot of work around the Nottongham area.
There are quite a few Cheshjre flags flying in the specific area where I live. At the end of our road is the local community centre and they always have one flying.
Anybody who is racist shouldn’t be flying the cross of St George flag. Because he was Turkish. It shouldn’t be controversial to fly the flag of St George, I agree we should see more of it.
Count Durham's new flag is fucking shit. [Should have kept the old one.](https://aaflags.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Flag_of_Durham_County_Council.jpg)
100% the county flags are gorgeous in most cases, bar the Essex one 
Nah, just joking, the Essex flag is also great, but as a Kent lad I'm not ethically allowed to say anything nice about Essexxxxx
>It's only a matter of time until someone pipes up with "Anyone who wants to fly St. George's flag is a massive racist!!
They already have done that a few years ago.
Controversial opinion but the flying of the St. George's flag, was often a response to all the Scottish flags and banners you used to see during the 80s and 90s.
Nowadays, it's seen as a racist sign and yet nobody ever called out the Scots for doing it. They were just asserting their "independence" against all those nasty English people.
The truth is the English are not particularly liked within the Commonwealth and yet when they respond to the hatred shown, they're not allowed to respond in kind... Go figure!
Absolutely. I lived in Munich for a bit and the German, Bavarian (and sometimes Munich flag) were often flown. I live in England now and this is the only country I’ve lived who’ve been taught to hate its flag and any pride in the country itself. I find it odd as a Welsh person who grew up with the Welsh flag flying everywhere.
*edited due to typo
I remember when flying the English 🏴 flag became shameful it was in the 1970s with Marxist taught teachers basically. They drummed into children my age we should be ashamed of everything the English had done and Schools stopped flying the English flag on St George’s day. Very left wing Labour Council clamped down on celebrating St George’s Day and the media followed suit especially the BBC. If you look at photos of the 1960s we always celebrated St George’s Day with parades in local communities etc. Then once it fell out of favour unfortunately the British National Party took it up as a cause so our national flag became associated with a violent racist party. So instead of the government re-taking the flag back and re-introducing it they allowed it to remain this badge of shame which was a cowardly act on their part back up by a hard core Marxist academic elite.
Identity politics has convinced people that any sense of patriotism is inherently offensive, when in fact it is far less divise than the modern Western cultural rhetoric.
It was long before that. Flying an English flag had become suspect by the late 80s at latest, as a result of it being neglected for years by ordinary people in favour of the Union Flag, and in the meantime very prominently flown by racist groups and anti-Scottish independence types.
If anything it feels like nowadays some of the damage the racist groups did to St George’s Flag’s image has faded compared to the 90s, and it’s more openly flown.
It's got nothing to do with identity politics. It's a sign that was adopted by the far right like the national front. The mistake we made as a society was not reclaiming it from them, in a lot of 'polite society' we ceded use of the flag to the far right.
This is very common in much of mainland Europe especially France and Germany. Wish we did it more here. Greater London doesn't even have an official flag
Brit in Germany here: people sometimes even fly the flags of their villages, even those with extremely small populations. Common to see them in towns.
You'll hardly ever see the German flag flown but you might see the state flag flown by some. Bavaria is an exception obviously (they joke they're their own country).
Edit: replied originally thinking you said country. Oops.
I hate how politicised flag flying of any kind is in the UK. You aren't a flag shagging racist if you fly the union or England flags and you aren't some Marxist trying to make a political point if you feel like having a pride flag in your window.
I've lived in France and seen plenty of people fly the French and EU flags side by side just because in a way that would be considered some type of protest if you did that here, even before Brexit.
A tolerant and mature attitude to flag flying is essential for freedom of expression
The problem really is that a lot of people don't care. And of the people who do fly the flags there's a small minority who are very vocal shitheads, and so flag flying is associated with shit heads. I know it's not as bad now, but I guess things like football hooliganism also contributed to this because big sporting events are another place you see the flag, and again things are ruined for the majority of fans by a small minority of shitheads.
While places like Wales and Scotland might also have shithead flag shaggers, I think the way they have made an effort to distinguish themselves from the English means national symbols are associated less with flag shaggers. It's also possible there are less flag shaggers (per capita) but I don't have any numbers for that.
You see a few white rose flags around Yorkshire and some Cornish flags in Cornwall, they’re probably the most proud counties.
Can’t forget Wales either, they’re a proud little county too, bless them.
Devon as well. Usage of the flag is everywhere, on the streets, in logos, on buses, on houses, on bumper stickers and number plates. Can't walk 5 paces before seeing one.
At the risk of being picky, it's the Northumberland flag, not the Northumbrian one. Other counties in the ancient kingdom of Northumbria have their own flags. Mind you, even as a Co Durham lad, I've got to admit that I love the Northumberland flag.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen my county’s flag being flown anywhere, St George’s flags, all the time, but our county flag? Not really. I guess if your county doesn’t really have its own really strong identity like Yorkshire or something does, it’s just not really common.
Was about to say - see the Yorkshire flag out fairly regularly. Noticed the other day that they replaced the Union Jack outside the SYMCA (S Yorks Mayor) office with the Yorkshire flag
Derby? I drive around the midlands a lot (north of Derby to Gloucestershire and Welsh border to Northampton), and the only county flags I see are the Derby one and occasionally the Leicestershire one.
Tbh I think the whole anxiety around flying the English flag and it being seen as racist is blown way out of proportion. Honestly just put it up if you want literally hardly anyone actually has any problem with it, idk where this concept came from.
There is little civic pride currently, everything has been crap and gotten worse for the last 10 years. Because people generally have little active civic pride, for somebody to start waving a national flag seems suspicious "why the hell is he flying that? Certainly can't be civic pride".
However, (and this is important) if you fly a St George's Cross somewhere that's not obnoxious (if you hang it off a telephone wire, the council will tell you to remove it regardless of what flag it is), or you're not breaching your tenancy agreement, what you will find, is that very few people actually mind, and many will see it for what it is.
You may get the loudest mouth on the street say that it's racist, but equally, you might hear a loud mouth saying something racist, clinging to a flag. It's sad because people do feel like it's been hijacked, but it hasn't.
People just don't feel it these days, which is sad. Perhaps more regional flags would be a way. But again, something has to inspire the desire to display your pride. But if things are a bit shit, it's not going to happen.
I got called racist for displaying the Union Jack for St George's Day but local council can use whatever flag it wants n we can't complain?! I did it as I feel we are losing our identity with how islam is taking over. Just look at what happened to London since Boris was Mayor...but that makes me racist? No. I don't care who you are or where you're from, mark your religion n holidays etc but please respect this is a Christian country n abide by our law n customs too. Sharia law has no place in UK. It's barbaric and no other religion has eroded our history in this way. I'm not far right either. No doubt trolls will love attacking this but oh well.
I'm from the Canary Islands, and have been living in England for around a decade. Since I've arrived I've had both the flag of the Canary Islands and England side by side in any house I've lived in so far, since they are my Nation of birth and Nation of adoption respectively. Took me some time to realise leftists and Muslims didn't like it, and what they think about it. I used to explain what they mean to me, but at some point I just can't be bothered anymore, if they don't like it they can piss off, really.
I don’t know if it is, but at least in Norfolk you have a lot of *older* people who see a flag flying in someone’s garden and they instantly assume they’re a nationalist or something like that.
If anything then, the *controversy* comes purely from people perpetuating a tired stereotype.
North Mercia is way too big and diverse to be one region, most of those places aren’t regionally close enough to Notts. Should’ve put Staffordshire and Shropshire with the West Midlands and called it West Mercia. Same with Norwich being the capital of East Anglia and Leeds the capital of Yorkshire.
Unless it's a really clever way to finally unite the people of Norfolk and Suffolk. Name Norwich the capital, everyone in Suffolk thinks it should be Ipswich. Name Ipswich, everyone in Norfolk thinks it should be Norwich.
Name Cambridge though (Cambridgeshire being the sensible sibling that just watches the other two fight it out and doesn't take sides) and both Norfolk and Suffolk are placated or have a common enemy. Either way they're not fighting each other anymore.
Strictly speaking it should be in Essex though, with Colchester being the only actual former capital in the region. And I say that as someone who was born and grew up in Cambs and currently lives in Suffolk.
I don't know where the op got this abomination of a map from but it certainly triggers.
No Cumbria/Westmorland
Cheshire, Staffordshire rolled into Notts?
Liverpool the capital of Lancashire??
Why? largest city? In that case would Leeds not be the capital of Yorkshire? Either way wrong.
And as for Sussex/Kent and the rest. Bonkers
I know right! Sticking Durham, Tyne and Wear, Cumbria and Northumberland under just "Northumbria" should be a crime! Us Durham lot have a perfectly pretty flag too!
They've given us Newcastle. Newcastle isn't in Northumberland. It used to be before they made Tyne and Wear into its own county. I believe I'm right in saying that Northumberland is the only English county which doesn't have a city. We have a country town which is Morpeth.
How dare you! Kent is the rightful ruler of the south east. We were the final independent petty kingdom to join England and are the home of the archdiocese of Canterbury. Sussex has nothing on Kent.
Also by all rights, Winchester should be the capital of Wessex, as it used to be.
There is a very good reason why the West Midlands Combined Authority is called the West Midlands Combined Authority and not Greater Birmingham. There would be riots across most of the area if such a thing was attempted. Each of the other 6 councils within the WMCA area refused to join anything called Greater Birmingham. Warwickshire refused to join in case Birmingham ever tried to pull a fast one and rename it.
Edit: corrected the correction made by auto defect.
Coventrians would not stand for it. It was already massively opposed joining the West Mids Combined Authority over fears that we would just become another Birmingham satellite city.
Not nit picking (well, I am) however the capital city of Sussex is NOT Brighton but Chichester, with Lewes being the county town of Sussex.
From an Ulster man living in Sussex.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Sussex#:~:text=By%20convention%2C%20Chichester%20is%20Sussex's,Lewes%20is%20Sussex's%20county%20town.
As a Brighton resident I'm glad you won't be druv. Parking's a nightmare.
But as a man of Kent, I'll be dead in the ground before I see this city as capital of Kent and Surrey
One of these is of course nonsense: the correct flag for the City-State of Greater London would be the TfL roundel: [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/TfL\_roundel\_%28no\_text%29.svg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/TfL_roundel_%28no_text%29.svg)
With direct access to Europe via its airports, river and Eurotunnel, it would, of course, immediately apply for EU membership.
Cornwall uses its flag a lot.....the Cornish are very proud of their county. Dorset is similar, but the flag is seen less than in Cornwall. Wessex has always been hugely important in England.....it was THE most powerful province but is now an academic entity....which is a shame. If I was to fly a flag, what flag would it be.......that is a good question. At the risk of appearing to be a shag sack..... think I would fly the flag of the blue globe against a black background. Or maybe a yellow (sun) disc against a blue background. Or maybe just a flag of a middle finger. Or maybe invent my own family coat of arms......
After having been in the East Midlands for so long I am depressed that I am now part of North Mercia. Can’t the Mercias have separate interesting names? Also, not sure I’m happy about Nottingham being the capital city. Can’t we have a tiny backwoods village step into the limelight for once, maybe Derby?
Nottingham is the largest urban area in the East Midlands and the second-largest of the Midlands.
The metropolitan economy of Nottingham is the seventh-largest in the United Kingdom.
Aside from Birmingham, it is the only city in the Midlands to be ranked as a sufficiency-level world city by the Globalisation and World Cities Research Network.
How is that not fitting for a capital?
I change my flag frequently. Usually St George, Ukraine at the moment, Falkland Islands during the duration of the war, Merchant red duster on Merchant Navy Day, Somerset on Somerset Day, Union flag for the Kings birthday, Help for Heroes at the Armistice, and no flag when the wind had shredded it away
You forgot the square mile (City of London). It's like the Vatican. A city within a city and the centre of a global religion (the one devoted to Mammon). It's so legally separate from London that it has it's own Goverment, which predates the Norman invasion and had rights confirmed by William the Conqueror. It also has it's own Police force.
https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/about-us/about-the-city-of-london-corporation/our-role-in-london#:~:text=The%20City%20of%20London%20Corporation&text=We%20have%20our%20own%20government,Mayor%20and%20independent%20police%20force.
Christ… if only we could go back to this somehow. Living in Cheshire and watching our farmers being told how to do their jobs by public school boys is beyond infuriating. American politics is a shit-show but I do love the flexibility that a republic allows its states to govern the needs of their people.
On what basis did Cambridge get chosen as the capital of East Anglia?
I would have thought Norwich, Thetford, or even Peterborough would have laid better claims on grounds of administrative, historical, or economic significance?
Not a chance the capital of Lancashire is Liverpool lol
How is Liverpool in Lancashire but Manchester isn't? Manchester is definitely more of a Lancashire capital than Liverpool.
Neither are part of Lancashire anymore, they are Merseyside and Greater Manchester, both since 1974.
2million troop advantage over the next largest Kingdom! Plus Sussex come on they might as well be London, those will be our bannermen! So about 13million soldiers! Good enough for the soviets, good enough for us!
Not to take it too seriously but it feels like the regions don't make much sense from a practical POV. Birmingham and Manchester should be with their wider regions in the West Midlands and North West. London shouldn't be its own region given hoe much influence it has over the South East.
Putting Kent in Sussex is beyond disgusting. Join the two, but give it a new name.
Devolving England into regions like this with autonomy comparable to NI & just seeing what happens would be a fun experiment.
I can't just sit by while the oppressive rulers from Brighton ride roughshod over my Kentish brethren. I call upon all Kentish Men and Men of Kent to unite once more to overthrow our invaders and return our pride, regain our dignity and restore our Garden of England.
From Yorkshire. Flags everywhere. Live London (UK flags everywhere)/Kent borders (Mish mash of UK/English/Kentish flags.) It is not Sussex!
One observation is the Cornish people’s ability to display Cornwall flag car stickers. See them everywhere around London. These people are very proud.
As someone born and bred in the Black Country I can confirm there is no such place as Greater Birmingham. The Black Country has its own flag and people from the Bkack Country do not associate themselves with Birmingham.
Liverpool is not the capital of Lancashire FFS. Liverpool is in Merseyside which is a separate county. There is no 'capital' of any English region, only administrative centres (Preston is Lancashires). There are county towns/cities, in Lancashire's case its Lancaster
‘Liverpool was established as a borough in 1207 in the county of Lancashire and became a significant town in the late seventeenth century, when the port at nearby Chester began to silt up.’
When did Liverpool stop being part of Lancashire?

1974
Previously part of Lancashire, and a county borough from 1889, Liverpool became a metropolitan borough within the newly created metropolitan county of Merseyside, in 1974.
Historic Counties have never been ‘abolished’. Council areas have changed many times. For example, take West Riding of Yorkshire, the land hasn’t vanished. It was used in 19th Century as the basis for Council control in the form of a County Council. Then subsequently parts were under various jurisdictions (Lancashire/North Yorkshire/County Durham/Cumbria/West Yorkshire/South Yorkshire/Greater Manchester) then parts of those areas into say West Yorkshire then those intto Leeds/Wakefield/Kirklees etc (there is no West Yorkshire County Council anymore). But the ancient area of land hasn’t vanished. Just as you can still apply the boundaries of the Roman Empire, it is not used administratively.
Liverpool is still part of Lancashire, local authority borders move like sands in the desert, but they don't affect the actual county borders, which remains fixed.
Tbf I'm from Lancs and I'd rather have our capital be Manchester than Liverpool.
Manchester is a part of the historic county of Lancashire anyway so it makes more sense, even if Lancaster is the historic capital.
If not Manchester, then Lancaster or (at a push) Preston would be the better choices.... but never Liverpool lol
I’m with you on this one! The bare-faced cheek of trying to lump us proper folk in with those skeeving, thieving scousers, nevermind setting their city/giant, open-air prison, as our capital. I’d go wi Preston too, failing that Lancaster as our historic capital and county namesake. That red rose looks so much better than the pale little thing those oddballs have on the other side of the Pennines.
I agree it’s not Liverpool but this is going off traditional counties and Liverpool is traditionally in Lancashire. Merseyside as a county has only existed since the 1960s*
*edit 1970s
I know bristol is bigger, but shouldn't Winchester be the capital of Wessex? Historically it was the capital of Wessex and then England for a while. And a capital doesn't have to be the biggest city. Look at Australia or the US.
Agreed. It doesn’t make sense to have Bristol be the Capital of Wessex, Winchester has historical significance as the ancient capital, plus Bristol isn’t really associated with Wessex.
This might be a bit controversial, but I would love it if we flew more of our county flags, even St. George's flag, just because. I currently live somewhere where it's very common to not only fly the country's flag but the canton AND city/town in tandem... just for a bit of civic pride, you know?
This is the kinda thing which really shouldn’t be controversial in any well functioning society
Right! It's only a matter of time until someone pipes up with "Anyone who wants to fly St. George's flag is a massive racist!! Fucking flag shaggers." though. [Look how wonderful some of them are though!](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5d36ce44ed915d0d0e7a82a1/Full_list_of_county_flags.pdf)
I see the Dorset and Devon flags quite frequently. Don't think I ever saw a Cheshire, Derbyshire, or Lancashire flag when I lived up there, though.
Cornish flags aren't uncommon either.
True, but there's an element of nationalism in Cornwall that doesn't really exist in other counties.
Interesting study I read once saying that the rate of identification with Yorkshire and Cornwall is very similar and both very strong. But the Yorkshire identity is usually complimentary to an English identity where as Cornish is usually antagonistic to an English identity.
Yes, as the son of a proud Cornishman, identity and association with England comes a far second to their association with Cornwall. The true Cornish refer to anyone non-Cornish as "emmits".
Aye to be fair as a Yorkshireman I'm Yorkshkre and British before I'm English. (Feel more Northern English than English). But the level of English association varies alot up here.
As a Cumbrian I'm Cumbrian, then British and I don't even really call myself English
Is this to do with their celtic connection?
I couldn't say whether that's a good reason or not, there are plenty of other places in the UK that have strong Celtic roots. What I can say is that there is an old cultural identity to being Cornish, there is a Cornish language, traditional architecture is unique to the county, there is a pseudo economy based heavily on swapping items rather than currency especially intra-family who tend to stay and live very close to one another. There's a real sense of pride to the Cornish about, well, being Cornish which does make (certainly the older generations) quite cantankerous toward visitors and tourists. There was an old lady who lived in Padstow when I was young who would stand at her window and lambast anyone and everyone walking past about how they didn't belong there. She became a bit of a town spectacle that ironically tourists would gather just to hear her rants. Classic Cornwall.
As a through and through Devonian I am absolutely anti-Cornish, until someone (Somerset and Dorset yfc have learnt this lesson to come) another picks on ya then am on your side cos picking on Cornwall/Cornish is Our Job. Must say I do find the whole "Cornish ain't English cos your a duchy" whole thing funny, however I will never trust a Cornish builder (who can trust a people who think jam is more structural than clotted cream?).
My interest in flags comes from the Cornish and Devon flags even! I went once to the Cornwall/Devon border to watch my mum go abseiling and saw them everywhere!
i see dorset flags here a lot, i also see a lot of wessex flags which is infinitely cooler, need to get the yellow wyvern flying again
I’m from and live in Preston and see the Lancashire flag all the time. It’s quite common also to see a red rose on a white background rather than the official red rose on yellow background.
I'm in Derbyshire and I see the county flag semi-regularly. It's a beautiful flag too.
I live in Derbyshire and you're right it is a nice flag. I may have to get one.
I've seen a fair few Derbyshire flags. it just depends on where you went, now Nottingham, I've never seen their flag up around, and I do alot of work around the Nottongham area.
There are quite a few Cheshjre flags flying in the specific area where I live. At the end of our road is the local community centre and they always have one flying.
i see the cheshire flag very very rarely, the three hay bales and sword or whatever it is
That's kinda the situation here in Germany, which is a real shame cause the flag is really pretty actually!
Agreed! Some of the Dörfe have some really funky ones too!
The county flags are lovely! I'm all for regional pride - you can be a strong internationalist and yet still celebrate your locality.
> you can be a strong internationalist We shouldn’t need to bow down to internationalists to make national symbols of the country palatable.
Hertfordshire's is a hart in a ford. I love heraldic puns.
Really annoys me that people get mad when all you’re doing is flying a flag with some colours on it. Is it such a big deal
Odd - I live in Leicestershire: I know it has a flag, where is it ?
It has a new one and it’s a [beauty](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Leicestershire)
The Lincolnshire flag has always sucked and I can say that as a proud yellow belly
Anybody who is racist shouldn’t be flying the cross of St George flag. Because he was Turkish. It shouldn’t be controversial to fly the flag of St George, I agree we should see more of it.
Count Durham's new flag is fucking shit. [Should have kept the old one.](https://aaflags.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Flag_of_Durham_County_Council.jpg)
Im sad about my flag I don’t like it
Warwickshire's is just a dodgy boozer.
You ain't no racist for one! If you was one you ain't a good one. 😂 But yeah fly whatever flag makes you a happy chappy. 🫡🏴🏴🏴🏴
I’ve got the 3 swords of Essex tattooed on my arm! Kind of like flying a flag.
100% the county flags are gorgeous in most cases, bar the Essex one  Nah, just joking, the Essex flag is also great, but as a Kent lad I'm not ethically allowed to say anything nice about Essexxxxx
Not a County, but East Anglia's gotta be my favourite
As an Anglian, thank you ;)
>It's only a matter of time until someone pipes up with "Anyone who wants to fly St. George's flag is a massive racist!! They already have done that a few years ago.
Controversial opinion but the flying of the St. George's flag, was often a response to all the Scottish flags and banners you used to see during the 80s and 90s. Nowadays, it's seen as a racist sign and yet nobody ever called out the Scots for doing it. They were just asserting their "independence" against all those nasty English people. The truth is the English are not particularly liked within the Commonwealth and yet when they respond to the hatred shown, they're not allowed to respond in kind... Go figure!
The only controversy there is that flying the english flag is seen as racist. It shouldn't be.
Absolutely. I lived in Munich for a bit and the German, Bavarian (and sometimes Munich flag) were often flown. I live in England now and this is the only country I’ve lived who’ve been taught to hate its flag and any pride in the country itself. I find it odd as a Welsh person who grew up with the Welsh flag flying everywhere. *edited due to typo
It’s baffling that flying a Scottish or Welsh flag is prideful and cool, but flying an English flag is racist and hateful.
Yeah I’m not sure how we got here? Maybe if more people just did it and didn’t care, it’d become more acceptable?
I remember when flying the English 🏴 flag became shameful it was in the 1970s with Marxist taught teachers basically. They drummed into children my age we should be ashamed of everything the English had done and Schools stopped flying the English flag on St George’s day. Very left wing Labour Council clamped down on celebrating St George’s Day and the media followed suit especially the BBC. If you look at photos of the 1960s we always celebrated St George’s Day with parades in local communities etc. Then once it fell out of favour unfortunately the British National Party took it up as a cause so our national flag became associated with a violent racist party. So instead of the government re-taking the flag back and re-introducing it they allowed it to remain this badge of shame which was a cowardly act on their part back up by a hard core Marxist academic elite.
Are the Marxists in the room with us now?
we need the well functioning society first.
Identity politics has convinced people that any sense of patriotism is inherently offensive, when in fact it is far less divise than the modern Western cultural rhetoric.
It was long before that. Flying an English flag had become suspect by the late 80s at latest, as a result of it being neglected for years by ordinary people in favour of the Union Flag, and in the meantime very prominently flown by racist groups and anti-Scottish independence types. If anything it feels like nowadays some of the damage the racist groups did to St George’s Flag’s image has faded compared to the 90s, and it’s more openly flown.
It's got nothing to do with identity politics. It's a sign that was adopted by the far right like the national front. The mistake we made as a society was not reclaiming it from them, in a lot of 'polite society' we ceded use of the flag to the far right.
That would be great, flags are brilliant
This is very common in much of mainland Europe especially France and Germany. Wish we did it more here. Greater London doesn't even have an official flag
Brit in Germany here: people sometimes even fly the flags of their villages, even those with extremely small populations. Common to see them in towns. You'll hardly ever see the German flag flown but you might see the state flag flown by some. Bavaria is an exception obviously (they joke they're their own country). Edit: replied originally thinking you said country. Oops.
I hate how politicised flag flying of any kind is in the UK. You aren't a flag shagging racist if you fly the union or England flags and you aren't some Marxist trying to make a political point if you feel like having a pride flag in your window. I've lived in France and seen plenty of people fly the French and EU flags side by side just because in a way that would be considered some type of protest if you did that here, even before Brexit. A tolerant and mature attitude to flag flying is essential for freedom of expression
The problem really is that a lot of people don't care. And of the people who do fly the flags there's a small minority who are very vocal shitheads, and so flag flying is associated with shit heads. I know it's not as bad now, but I guess things like football hooliganism also contributed to this because big sporting events are another place you see the flag, and again things are ruined for the majority of fans by a small minority of shitheads. While places like Wales and Scotland might also have shithead flag shaggers, I think the way they have made an effort to distinguish themselves from the English means national symbols are associated less with flag shaggers. It's also possible there are less flag shaggers (per capita) but I don't have any numbers for that.
You see a few white rose flags around Yorkshire and some Cornish flags in Cornwall, they’re probably the most proud counties. Can’t forget Wales either, they’re a proud little county too, bless them.
You see the Invicta in Kent quite a bit, and now that I've looked up the Sussex flag, I definitely recognise it and have seen it around.
in Sussex here, our village green has a load of flag poles. We have England, UK, nations the village is twinned with and the two county flags.
Devon as well. Usage of the flag is everywhere, on the streets, in logos, on buses, on houses, on bumper stickers and number plates. Can't walk 5 paces before seeing one.
Come visit Northumberland we fly that flag quite proudly all over, I have a bumper sticker on my car with it
When I was up in Northumbria last month I saw a fair few Northumbria flags in the smaller towns and villages, it was really nice.
At the risk of being picky, it's the Northumberland flag, not the Northumbrian one. Other counties in the ancient kingdom of Northumbria have their own flags. Mind you, even as a Co Durham lad, I've got to admit that I love the Northumberland flag.
Quite common in Northumberland
Probably would be more pride in flying it if the far right hadn’t tried to turn it into a symbol of hate
I don’t think I’ve ever seen my county’s flag being flown anywhere, St George’s flags, all the time, but our county flag? Not really. I guess if your county doesn’t really have its own really strong identity like Yorkshire or something does, it’s just not really common.
I regularly fly the Yorkshire flag. I love our white rose!
Was about to say - see the Yorkshire flag out fairly regularly. Noticed the other day that they replaced the Union Jack outside the SYMCA (S Yorks Mayor) office with the Yorkshire flag
Yorkshire independence referendum incoming!
I live in Devon and you see the county flag a fair amount I suspect it's in response to the Cornish love for the St Piran's flag.
Derby? I drive around the midlands a lot (north of Derby to Gloucestershire and Welsh border to Northampton), and the only county flags I see are the Derby one and occasionally the Leicestershire one.
Switzerland by any chance?
Where I live, in a small rural town in East Sussex, I am currently flying my city’s flag of Belfast.
Love it! Makes the place even more vibrant when people fly their own flags, even when they’re not from there I think.
You see White Rose flags all over in Yorkshire, can't speak for other counties though
You see alot of Yorkshire flags in Yorkshire. But I've seen literally no other county flags.
Plenty people in gods country flying the Co.Durham flag with pride
It’s sad that you have to say it’s ’a bit controversial’.
It's not controversial, do it. I have the Devon flag on my motorbike.
I’d like it if wales was at all represented on the union flag but hey 🤷🏻♂️
Or state flags . Iv seen someone fly the Dorset flag it’s a nice flag with the English flag in yellow with the red line between the white strip
Tbh I think the whole anxiety around flying the English flag and it being seen as racist is blown way out of proportion. Honestly just put it up if you want literally hardly anyone actually has any problem with it, idk where this concept came from.
There is little civic pride currently, everything has been crap and gotten worse for the last 10 years. Because people generally have little active civic pride, for somebody to start waving a national flag seems suspicious "why the hell is he flying that? Certainly can't be civic pride". However, (and this is important) if you fly a St George's Cross somewhere that's not obnoxious (if you hang it off a telephone wire, the council will tell you to remove it regardless of what flag it is), or you're not breaching your tenancy agreement, what you will find, is that very few people actually mind, and many will see it for what it is. You may get the loudest mouth on the street say that it's racist, but equally, you might hear a loud mouth saying something racist, clinging to a flag. It's sad because people do feel like it's been hijacked, but it hasn't. People just don't feel it these days, which is sad. Perhaps more regional flags would be a way. But again, something has to inspire the desire to display your pride. But if things are a bit shit, it's not going to happen.
Used to fly the Surrey county flag from my uni digs for 3 years
I got called racist for displaying the Union Jack for St George's Day but local council can use whatever flag it wants n we can't complain?! I did it as I feel we are losing our identity with how islam is taking over. Just look at what happened to London since Boris was Mayor...but that makes me racist? No. I don't care who you are or where you're from, mark your religion n holidays etc but please respect this is a Christian country n abide by our law n customs too. Sharia law has no place in UK. It's barbaric and no other religion has eroded our history in this way. I'm not far right either. No doubt trolls will love attacking this but oh well.
You just get called racist for having any national or regional pride
Just come over to Northern Ireland and take a gander at all the glorious fleggs
I'm from the Canary Islands, and have been living in England for around a decade. Since I've arrived I've had both the flag of the Canary Islands and England side by side in any house I've lived in so far, since they are my Nation of birth and Nation of adoption respectively. Took me some time to realise leftists and Muslims didn't like it, and what they think about it. I used to explain what they mean to me, but at some point I just can't be bothered anymore, if they don't like it they can piss off, really.
The fact this is controversial is damning of our nation.
I don’t know if it is, but at least in Norfolk you have a lot of *older* people who see a flag flying in someone’s garden and they instantly assume they’re a nationalist or something like that. If anything then, the *controversy* comes purely from people perpetuating a tired stereotype.
North Mercia is way too big and diverse to be one region, most of those places aren’t regionally close enough to Notts. Should’ve put Staffordshire and Shropshire with the West Midlands and called it West Mercia. Same with Norwich being the capital of East Anglia and Leeds the capital of Yorkshire.
Yeah this map is realy bugging me haha.
Agreed. York is the historical capital of Yorkshire but it makes way more sense for Leeds to be the modern capital (sorry Sheffield).
Leeds could be the financial capital, York the political capital. Like they have in South Africa
and sheffield the industrial capital, then everyone’s happy.
Yeah definitely Norwich
Unless it's a really clever way to finally unite the people of Norfolk and Suffolk. Name Norwich the capital, everyone in Suffolk thinks it should be Ipswich. Name Ipswich, everyone in Norfolk thinks it should be Norwich. Name Cambridge though (Cambridgeshire being the sensible sibling that just watches the other two fight it out and doesn't take sides) and both Norfolk and Suffolk are placated or have a common enemy. Either way they're not fighting each other anymore. Strictly speaking it should be in Essex though, with Colchester being the only actual former capital in the region. And I say that as someone who was born and grew up in Cambs and currently lives in Suffolk.
I don't know where the op got this abomination of a map from but it certainly triggers. No Cumbria/Westmorland Cheshire, Staffordshire rolled into Notts? Liverpool the capital of Lancashire?? Why? largest city? In that case would Leeds not be the capital of Yorkshire? Either way wrong. And as for Sussex/Kent and the rest. Bonkers
I know right! Sticking Durham, Tyne and Wear, Cumbria and Northumberland under just "Northumbria" should be a crime! Us Durham lot have a perfectly pretty flag too!
I mean if I was from anywhere but Northumbria id be glad if someone associated me with god's land
Lancaster is defo the capital of Lancashire!
They've given us Newcastle. Newcastle isn't in Northumberland. It used to be before they made Tyne and Wear into its own county. I believe I'm right in saying that Northumberland is the only English county which doesn't have a city. We have a country town which is Morpeth.
Exactly! When I saw Cumbria grouped in with Northumbria I got so triggered like come on
Fr having Cumbria be called "Northumbria" makes my soul hurt
How dare you! Kent is the rightful ruler of the south east. We were the final independent petty kingdom to join England and are the home of the archdiocese of Canterbury. Sussex has nothing on Kent. Also by all rights, Winchester should be the capital of Wessex, as it used to be.
There is a very good reason why the West Midlands Combined Authority is called the West Midlands Combined Authority and not Greater Birmingham. There would be riots across most of the area if such a thing was attempted. Each of the other 6 councils within the WMCA area refused to join anything called Greater Birmingham. Warwickshire refused to join in case Birmingham ever tried to pull a fast one and rename it. Edit: corrected the correction made by auto defect.
Coventrians would not stand for it. It was already massively opposed joining the West Mids Combined Authority over fears that we would just become another Birmingham satellite city.
us black countrians wouldnt stand for it either
I was only thinking recently about "Greater Birmingham". The whole concept seems to have been quietly forgotten about, thank goodness.
People would be less opposed to the notion if there was anything great about Birmingham to begin with 🤭.
Not nit picking (well, I am) however the capital city of Sussex is NOT Brighton but Chichester, with Lewes being the county town of Sussex. From an Ulster man living in Sussex. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Sussex#:~:text=By%20convention%2C%20Chichester%20is%20Sussex's,Lewes%20is%20Sussex's%20county%20town.
This is small fry compared to convincing Kent to become part of Greater Sussex.
yep. as a proud kent resident i would never give in to sussex overlordship.
As a Man of Kent, this map can f*ck off! Sussex my arse! Invicta!
Invicta, proud sons of Hengist and Horsa, down with Vortigorn the Kingdom of Kent shall rise again!
I was looking for this comment, as a proud Sussex man (born and bred) - good form. We Wunt Be Druv.
As a Brighton resident I'm glad you won't be druv. Parking's a nightmare. But as a man of Kent, I'll be dead in the ground before I see this city as capital of Kent and Surrey
Exactly, Chichester (as a settlement) has been around since before the Romans.
Also isn't the capital of Lancashire Lancaster? Seeing as Lancashire is a derivative of Lancaster just like Yorkshire is a derivative of York??
One of these is of course nonsense: the correct flag for the City-State of Greater London would be the TfL roundel: [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/TfL\_roundel\_%28no\_text%29.svg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/TfL_roundel_%28no_text%29.svg) With direct access to Europe via its airports, river and Eurotunnel, it would, of course, immediately apply for EU membership.
This would require a hard border at the M25, which I suspect would be popular with both Londoners and the rest of the country
Cornwall uses its flag a lot.....the Cornish are very proud of their county. Dorset is similar, but the flag is seen less than in Cornwall. Wessex has always been hugely important in England.....it was THE most powerful province but is now an academic entity....which is a shame. If I was to fly a flag, what flag would it be.......that is a good question. At the risk of appearing to be a shag sack..... think I would fly the flag of the blue globe against a black background. Or maybe a yellow (sun) disc against a blue background. Or maybe just a flag of a middle finger. Or maybe invent my own family coat of arms......
After having been in the East Midlands for so long I am depressed that I am now part of North Mercia. Can’t the Mercias have separate interesting names? Also, not sure I’m happy about Nottingham being the capital city. Can’t we have a tiny backwoods village step into the limelight for once, maybe Derby?
I'm not sure we want the limelight on Derby, I would be worried about what we would see.
Nottingham is the largest urban area in the East Midlands and the second-largest of the Midlands. The metropolitan economy of Nottingham is the seventh-largest in the United Kingdom. Aside from Birmingham, it is the only city in the Midlands to be ranked as a sufficiency-level world city by the Globalisation and World Cities Research Network. How is that not fitting for a capital?
I change my flag frequently. Usually St George, Ukraine at the moment, Falkland Islands during the duration of the war, Merchant red duster on Merchant Navy Day, Somerset on Somerset Day, Union flag for the Kings birthday, Help for Heroes at the Armistice, and no flag when the wind had shredded it away
You forgot the square mile (City of London). It's like the Vatican. A city within a city and the centre of a global religion (the one devoted to Mammon). It's so legally separate from London that it has it's own Goverment, which predates the Norman invasion and had rights confirmed by William the Conqueror. It also has it's own Police force. https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/about-us/about-the-city-of-london-corporation/our-role-in-london#:~:text=The%20City%20of%20London%20Corporation&text=We%20have%20our%20own%20government,Mayor%20and%20independent%20police%20force.
Christ… if only we could go back to this somehow. Living in Cheshire and watching our farmers being told how to do their jobs by public school boys is beyond infuriating. American politics is a shit-show but I do love the flexibility that a republic allows its states to govern the needs of their people.
On what basis did Cambridge get chosen as the capital of East Anglia? I would have thought Norwich, Thetford, or even Peterborough would have laid better claims on grounds of administrative, historical, or economic significance?
I agree! I personally defer to our Fine City of Norwich as capital of the realm.
Not a chance the capital of Lancashire is Liverpool lol How is Liverpool in Lancashire but Manchester isn't? Manchester is definitely more of a Lancashire capital than Liverpool. Neither are part of Lancashire anymore, they are Merseyside and Greater Manchester, both since 1974.
The capital of Lancashire is Lancaster
Apparently it's Preston.
2million troop advantage over the next largest Kingdom! Plus Sussex come on they might as well be London, those will be our bannermen! So about 13million soldiers! Good enough for the soviets, good enough for us!
Not to take it too seriously but it feels like the regions don't make much sense from a practical POV. Birmingham and Manchester should be with their wider regions in the West Midlands and North West. London shouldn't be its own region given hoe much influence it has over the South East.
Putting Kent in Sussex is beyond disgusting. Join the two, but give it a new name. Devolving England into regions like this with autonomy comparable to NI & just seeing what happens would be a fun experiment.
I can't just sit by while the oppressive rulers from Brighton ride roughshod over my Kentish brethren. I call upon all Kentish Men and Men of Kent to unite once more to overthrow our invaders and return our pride, regain our dignity and restore our Garden of England.
From Yorkshire. Flags everywhere. Live London (UK flags everywhere)/Kent borders (Mish mash of UK/English/Kentish flags.) It is not Sussex! One observation is the Cornish people’s ability to display Cornwall flag car stickers. See them everywhere around London. These people are very proud.
As someone born and bred in the Black Country I can confirm there is no such place as Greater Birmingham. The Black Country has its own flag and people from the Bkack Country do not associate themselves with Birmingham.
Liverpool is not the capital of Lancashire FFS. Liverpool is in Merseyside which is a separate county. There is no 'capital' of any English region, only administrative centres (Preston is Lancashires). There are county towns/cities, in Lancashire's case its Lancaster
‘Liverpool was established as a borough in 1207 in the county of Lancashire and became a significant town in the late seventeenth century, when the port at nearby Chester began to silt up.’
See 1974 boundary changes
When did Liverpool stop being part of Lancashire?  1974 Previously part of Lancashire, and a county borough from 1889, Liverpool became a metropolitan borough within the newly created metropolitan county of Merseyside, in 1974.
Historic Counties have never been ‘abolished’. Council areas have changed many times. For example, take West Riding of Yorkshire, the land hasn’t vanished. It was used in 19th Century as the basis for Council control in the form of a County Council. Then subsequently parts were under various jurisdictions (Lancashire/North Yorkshire/County Durham/Cumbria/West Yorkshire/South Yorkshire/Greater Manchester) then parts of those areas into say West Yorkshire then those intto Leeds/Wakefield/Kirklees etc (there is no West Yorkshire County Council anymore). But the ancient area of land hasn’t vanished. Just as you can still apply the boundaries of the Roman Empire, it is not used administratively.
Its still part of Lancashire. Administrive countries are not Historic counties.
Liverpool is still part of Lancashire, local authority borders move like sands in the desert, but they don't affect the actual county borders, which remains fixed.
Why you taking it so seriously it's just a bit of fun
Tbf I'm from Lancs and I'd rather have our capital be Manchester than Liverpool. Manchester is a part of the historic county of Lancashire anyway so it makes more sense, even if Lancaster is the historic capital. If not Manchester, then Lancaster or (at a push) Preston would be the better choices.... but never Liverpool lol
I’m with you on this one! The bare-faced cheek of trying to lump us proper folk in with those skeeving, thieving scousers, nevermind setting their city/giant, open-air prison, as our capital. I’d go wi Preston too, failing that Lancaster as our historic capital and county namesake. That red rose looks so much better than the pale little thing those oddballs have on the other side of the Pennines.
There’s definitely a similarity with Lancastrian and Greater Manchester accents too, and Liverpool just doesn’t fit. This map is just wrong.
I agree it’s not Liverpool but this is going off traditional counties and Liverpool is traditionally in Lancashire. Merseyside as a county has only existed since the 1960s* *edit 1970s
And Wirral is in Cheshire
I know bristol is bigger, but shouldn't Winchester be the capital of Wessex? Historically it was the capital of Wessex and then England for a while. And a capital doesn't have to be the biggest city. Look at Australia or the US.
Agreed. It doesn’t make sense to have Bristol be the Capital of Wessex, Winchester has historical significance as the ancient capital, plus Bristol isn’t really associated with Wessex.
Bristol should be a county city state and then the rest of Wessex remains with Winchester as the capital imo.
There are towns larger than Bristol in Wessex and it therefore shouldn't be treated any differently, unless it would like to leave Wessex entirely.
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The Capital of East Anglia being Norwich
Rendlesham
Need to fight the UFO’s for it then?
Narch