Flags

[paulkincaid]

On my regular walks around Folkestone and Hythe I am seeing more and more St George flags hanging from lampposts. Hardly surprising, really, Folkestone was a very UKIP town back in the day, and is now a very Reform town. So, as much as I am sickened by these blatant attempts at intimidation (which is what they are), it is only what I expected. But the thing I have noticed is that these flags appear in the poorer parts of town (and there is a lot of poverty in Folkestone). But not all the poor areas: there are no flags where poor housing shades into lower middle class, there are no flags where people have been doing up their houses. They used to say that patriotism was the last refuge of the scoundrel, but I don't think that is true; today I think that patriotism is the last refuge of the wretched. Despite the promises of UKIP, Brexit didn't make things better; despite their bombast, the Tories didn't make things better; despite their promises, Labour isn't making things better. Reform is the only group left who give them a convenient enemy to blame for everything going wrong. And this ridiculous patriotism is the only way they have to show that they are the victims here. Every flag they string up is a cry for help.