England’s complex relationship to heritage is remembered as incidents related to British culture spark debate.
It has been widely reported that across towns, villages and cities of the country, that flags have begun appearing and this has triggered debate and highlighted the complex relationship between national pride, heritage and community identity.
On the 15th July 2025, the BBC reported a news story which went viral, of a 12-year-old girl in union jack dress, who couldn’t give a speech about British culture. Following this a group called the ‘Weoley Warriors’ formed in response to the incident and the first of the flags were put up in Weoley Castle’s square and the movement spread to other parts of the country with Union Jacks and St. George’s Cross flags in various locations. Another group had also formed, called “Operation Raise The Colours”, encouraging people to put up flags in other areas in the country.
The flags have decorated lampposts and, in some cases, people have graffitied the St. George’s Cross onto roundabouts and zebra crossings, causing further division on the matter. An overall feeling towards this is that it is vandalism, as well as not being done with the same spirit as putting the flags up. On this subject, the BBC states, ‘As a political row develops over the response to the flags and roundabouts, Tory leader Kemi Badenoch waded in on Saturday to say councils removing the flags on lampposts were behaving in a “shameful” way and applying rules “selectively”. The BBC also quoted ‘Sarah Milne, who knows the original members of the Weoley Warriors, stating that the idea behind it has been to show pride in the country and “to take the flag back from the racists.”
In September 2025, a ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally took place in central London. The BBC says, ‘Twenty-six officers were injured while policing a protest organised by far-right activist Tommy Robinson, which saw up to 150,000 people march through central London,’ . They then go on to say that ‘Tech billionaire Elon Musk spoke to protesters on Whitehall via video link, while 5,000 people joined a nearby counter-protest organised by Stand Up To Racism.
Let us know your thoughts on the issue of the flags in communities and how this has impacted you in the comments below
Sukie Yr10