The English media and the English government, who have both spent the last decade normalising and promoting English nationalism, are now outraged by emboldened English Nationalists showing themselves. Starmer, standing there surrounded by flags, isn't nearly as bad but he is on the same spectrum. Can they genuinely not see it?
@CloudyMrs as someone who grew up in the 60s and 70s, and marched against the NF and for Rock Against Racism in the 70s and 80s, all the flags surrounding the UK prime minister are fucking freaking me out!
@patrickhadfield it started as a misguided attempt to impose Britishness on Scotland after the 2014 referendum and just got totally out of hand. I remember when you could buy groceries without them needing to be emblazoned with flegs. And when tv programmes could be something that didn't start with "The Great British..." Now is just the culmination of all those tiny bits of jingoistic pish. They did it but won't own it.
@MadeyeTheCarnaptious@patrickhadfield and those of us who saw it for what it was were ridiculed by the English media for being petty and ridiculous. It was never about the strawberries. It was always about the flag and showing who is in charge.
@MadeyeTheCarnaptious I work for a UK supermarket (not that one), on the fruit and veg department, and Scottish produce usually (but not always) has the St Andrews flag. Occasionally, Welsh produce has the dragon, but English and (rarely) Ulster produce has the Union Flag. What bothers me more is the amount of Israeli produce we get, mostly avocado's and potatoes. @CloudyMrs@patrickhadfield
Ignorant Yank here, genuinely curious: I thought everything on the island(s) of Britain (not Ireland) was British, with England, Scotland, and so on being parts of Britain (and “English” pertaining only to the England part) . . . ? If British doesn’t include Scottish, is there a name for all the peoples of the island(s) of Britain?
@superball@MadeyeTheCarnaptious@patrickhadfield not surprised you're confused. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is sometimes known as Britain. For most English media and many in England, England =Britain =UK, they use those terms completely interchangeably, even when they just mean England and they often use the 🇬🇧 as a symbol of England. Some Scots identity as British, but most identify as Scottish first. The forced use of 🇬🇧 in Scotland isn't universally welcome.
@superball@MadeyeTheCarnaptious@CloudyMrs@patrickhadfield "British" is colonialism. It is English culture, language, and identity imposed on everyone living on this island (and at one time quite a lot of the rest of the world), and the erasure of other indigenous minorities (the Welsh, the Gaels). If you see union flags in Scotland, you are probably in a Loyal Order of Bigots area, or looking at a UK gov bldg or English person's 2nd home. 66% here identify as Scottish only, not British.