Always flying

Boswell tells us that Samuel Johnson made this famous pronouncement that patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel on the the evening of April 7th, 1775. The English flag was for a long time hijacked by far right neo fascist parties and has only recently been generally reclaimed for celebrating Englishness. The Scots may soon want their part of this flag removed - who knows? I feel myself as much a European and distrust the narrow bigotry that can become associated with one particular flag, whatever the country. On the other hand I have no problem with national pride in achievements or culture. This local village garage owner flies the flag permanently and I have no idea what his views might be. I do note however that he has got the flag the right way up even if he could hitch it up a bit further!