Argument on being a patriot is flagging

I ANTICIPATED a flood of “patriots” lambasting me for my letter on over-use of the Union Jack (“Bragging with the flag extremely un-British”, March 31).

What I didn’t foresee was the lack of knowledge of the facts in some of the letters.

An anonymous correspondent actually asks me to “facilitate him or her with the information regarding Mr Johnson’s Cabinet doing more to break up the Union that any preceding government”.

He/she goes on to say that maybe he/she was asleep when this was happening. Well, my word, it must have been a long nap (“Union flag should show places of safety”, April 6).

Johnson and his Cabinet of Brexit cronies was responsible for dragging Scotland and Northern Ireland kicking and screaming out of the European Union totally against their will. Polls now show this has led for the first time to a majority in Scotland for independence from the UK.

Northern Ireland has suffered dreadful complications with red tape due to Boris’s mucked-up withdrawal agreement and signs are that unrest is growing that could destroy the Good Friday Agreement. This would be a disaster for the province. Even Wales, which voted to leave, is now recording the highest ever poll figures supporting independence.

As for safety I must admit that no building which I enter has to fly a flag for me to feel safe therein. Let’s get this straight: the over-use of the flag is NOT patriotism, it is nationalism!

Now let me see if I can think of an example. Oh yes - ostentatious displays of banners and hundreds of flags took place somewhere quite near in the 1930s and we all know where that led.

Phil Garner, Littleover