St George's Day

For anyone who isn't living in England or who might have been asleep for the last few days, today is St George's Day.

I don't want to say much about St George as I'm sure you all know the story of the dragon etc. If you'd like to read up on it, here's an interesting link.

What I did want to comment on is the English flag or St George's flag. In recent years there has been a concerted effort on the part of some people (and not just card manufacturers) to raise the profile of our national patron saint and his feast day.

Today, whilst shopping in our local shopping centre after work I noticed they had a display of St George's flags hanging from the balconies. I don't remember them being there last year. In the card shop nearby, I think the 'merchandise' on sale has been increasing steadily over the last few years.

On the way in to work, I passed a lorry festooned with flags and on the way home this evening passed a motorist with a flag proudly fluttering from his rear window.

Now, this is all well and good and I'm happy to see St George getting his rightful recognition but I also feel slightly uncomfortable when I see an overt display of nationalism. I wonder if I'm alone in this. Unlike other national flags, I'm always aware that the English flag is also used very prominently by extreme right wing groups like the BNP.

I always feel like saying, 'I'm proud to be English and happy to wave a flag but please don't confuse me with 'that lot'.'