Up until quite recently, it felt like flags were a relatively minor feature of life in Great Britain. You would only usually see them flown from public buildings; and, in terms of the public themselves, they would only tend to fly them during significant national occasions: sports competitions usually (with the current World Cup bringing this topic to my attention in the first place), but also major royal occasions like jubilees. Over the past decade though, they have become more prominent and controversial. For me, there are two significant instances of flag flying in the UK that stand out from this period, likely flown by people from quite different backgrounds, and with what you would expect to be very different political views- yet, stemming from a common feeling.
These instances are, firstly, the Last Night of the Proms, and secondly, the flags flown haphazardly by members of the public from their homes or lampposts. In this first instance, whilst the Last Night of the Proms has long been associated with flag-waving, it has historically been an occasion when the flag being waved was mostly a Union flag/Jack; since the 2016 Brexit vote though, the most common flag to be flown on this occasion tends to be of the European Union. Meanwhile, in 2025, council rulings (primarily associated with Birmingham City Council) insisting on the removal of the flags of England/UK, while not insisting on the same for Palestinian flags, triggered a widespread trend of members of the public flying the St George Cross of England and Union flag of the UK.
These two instances involve different sets of flags, associated with different parts of society: attendees of the Last Night of the Proms are from wealthier backgrounds than those typically choosing to fly the flags of England/UK from their homes or local lampposts. The flying of the EU flag on the Last Night of the Proms is also taken as a demonstration of sadness with the UK leaving the EU; while the localised flying of the flags of England and the UK, depending on your point of view, is taken to either be a demonstration of national pride- or to show hostility towards those considered to be putting their country into jeopardy, be it leaders or certain members of the population.
But what do these groups of people have in common, other than flying flags? I would say that it comes from a feeling of vulnerability, with the flag symbolising either something that has been lost, or feel like they are losing. The relative scarcity of flags before the Brexit referendum seemed to suggest that people across Great Britain felt that they could take much of what they valued about the country for granted. The significant shift in the flags being flown during the the Last Night of the Proms after the Brexit vote, with EU flags being a rare sight before then, suggests to me that the rare sight of those flags previously was due to EU membership (and what was associated with it) being taken for granted. The continued flying of the EU flags since the Brexit vote reflects sadness among certain members of British society with the UK leaving the EU, and perhaps with what Brexit resulted in and symbolised. Meanwhile, before 2025, flying of English/British flags was rare among members of the public, as it had seemed to be a historic right that could be taken for granted- when this was challenged by those councils in 2025 (with anger stoked further by other flags still being considered acceptable by councils to fly) it provoked what seemed to me again (like Remainers flying the EU flag during the Last Night of the Proms) to be a defensive response of flying the flag.
Finally, notice that, when mentioning the rarity of members of the public flying flags before 2025, I said 'Great Britain' and not 'the UK'. This is because, whilst this seemed to be the case in England, Scotland, and Wales, flags have historically been a more prominent feature of Northern Ireland. However, with the province well known for being divided along religious lines and accompanying ideas on identity, the two dominant sides of Northern Irish society have long been associated with flag waving, most obviously in Belfast, where Protestant communities are known to prominently fly the Union flag/Jack, while Catholic communities do the same with the tricolour flag of the Republic of Ireland. Again, while different communities are flying different flags, they seem united in resorting to flag-waving as a sign of vulnerability and fear of loss, concern for their community that the flag represents, and a defensive act on behalf of their community.
In my opinion, I hope that the act of flag flying can return to being an act that isn't considered controversial, as largely seemed to be the case not very long ago.
