Oxfordshire County Council stamped down hard on Raise the Colours’ flag-flying operations this week. Having complained that flags on lamp-posts and painted on roads were a safety hazard and a source of intimidation, on Tuesday the Lib Dem-controlled body sought – and got – an interim High Court injunction against any flagging of street furniture or roads anywhere in the county. From now on, any Raise the Colours enthusiast who affixes a flag to a lamp-post, or for that matter anyone else who knowingly disobeys the order, will be in contempt of court – and could end up in prison.
It’s hard to see how a St George’s flag raised on a lamppost endangers anyone
There’s a lot that is deeply unattractive in this summary suppression of an unofficial and entirely spontaneous popular initiative with a good deal of local support. It happened at the behest of a combination of humourless officialdom and an uncomprehending establishment whose chief concerns seem to have been embarrassment at the sight of their own national flags – and the fact that no official authorisation had been obtained.
Occasional serried lines of Union Jacks and St George’s flags added a good deal of jollity to parts of an otherwise pretty dreary county; their removal will merely draw drivers’ attention back to the industrial parks, housing estates and regiments of pylons that make up a large portion of it.
