ABSTRACT
For the musician Billy Bragg, World Cup 2002 provided a moment which could be described as ‘taking much of the beligerence out of the England flag and making it accessible to everyone’ (Bragg 2002a). Billy Bragg is of course a walking-talking-singing advertisement for the cause of English patriotism without prejudice. ‘Take down the union jack, it clashes with the sunset and put it in the attic with the emperor’s old clothes’ he sang on his single ‘Take Down the Union Jack’ released to coincide with the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. Bragg’s flag of preference is the St George Cross of England. He asks us not to stop flying the flags: just to change the meanings of the one which we sport. His goal is simple, if ambitious
We’Ve got to get to a place where when we see a flag of St George we don’t immediately think ‘racist’. People don’t think that when they see the flag of Scotland or Wales, it’s a real problem that we have in England. It’s our problem, the BNP are in England. So keep the flag flying people, just understand what it really means.
