Guess what, we're now allowed to fly the Union Flag

Little known facts of the world no.12: government rules were that the Union Flag should only be flown from public buildings on 18 specific days of the year. Because of the administrative hassle of hoisting the flag up and down on the particular days, the net effect of this was that most UK public buildings did not fly the Union Flag. One exception was the Council offices in Basildon. The Conservative administration that took over in 2002 thought the rules absurd, raised the flag, and it has been there ever since. Now the Labour government has finally caught up with Basildon; the 18 day rule is to be scrapped so public buildings can fly the flag all the year round, which, of course, we were doing anyway. This is good news though; reclaiming our national flag from both the far-Right and the politically-correct left who mutter that it isn’t ‘inclusive’ enough is a long overdue step for any government.

Hang on though; Basildon also flies the Cross of St. George, this being England after all. Somehow, I think that Gordon Brown will find that a flag too far.