Would it bother you if someone burnt your national flag?

[Svalbaard]

I'm with the late great Bill Hicks on this who posited that being a nationalist was pointless seeing as you had no control over which country your parents fu**ed in.

[Mich the Tester]

I'm with the late great Bill Hicks on this who posited that being a nationalist was pointless seeing as you had no control over which country your parents fu**ed in.

[Svalbaard]

Nope. Actually, I am very tempted to set fire to one Union Jack, that disgusting tatty old thing that neighbour MR PIKEY SCUM has in his front garden. You would think if someone goes to the trouble of putting a full size flagpole in their front garden they would buy a decent flag to go on it.

To be pedantic there is no such flag called the Union Jack. What you are referring to is called the Union Flag.

Point taken and agreed with though.

[Sysman]

Even if you didn't think the flag was important in itself, if someone did it specifically to upset you, wouldn't the sentiment be more important than the action?

To revise my earlier opinion ,if I was on holiday in some far flung place in the world and someone burned it, I probably would be upset, and if the place was dodgy enough* maybe in fear of my life.

* could apply in certain parts of the US

[thunderlizard]

I'm with the late great Bill Hicks on this who posited that being a nationalist was pointless seeing as you had no control over which country your parents fu**ed in.

I've generally been of that opinion, though haven't seen it put quite so bluntly as that before!

Nevertheless I would definitely take it as a slight on a group of people that includes me, and I would want to know why they wanted to do a thing like that.

[Mich the Tester]

Nevertheless I would definitely take it as a slight on a group of people that includes me, and I would want to know why they wanted to do a thing like that.

Ah now, I've always wanted to know what drives people to burn flags, burn books, or indeed march like lemmings behind flag waving politicians or book carrying radical priests, but whenever I've met people who do that kind of thing I've found that getting reason out of them is like extracting blood from a stone.

[Doggy Styles]

Even if you didn't think the flag was important in itself, if someone did it specifically to upset you, wouldn't the sentiment be more important than the action?

It depends who does it. As I said, middle eastern types are always at it, so that doesn't bother me in the slightest.

[gingerjedi]

To revise my earlier opinion ,if I was on holiday in some far flung place in the world and someone burned it, I probably would be upset, and if the place was dodgy enough* maybe in fear of my life.

* could apply in certain parts of the US

Top tip: If you're arrested/kidnapped in dodgy country claim you're Welsh, they'll most probably sympathise with your plight and let you move on.

I have a friend who spent the best part of 10 years travelling in some very dodgy places like Syria and Jordon, he reckoned it worked every time.

[Doggy Styles]

I'm with the late great Bill Hicks on this who posited that being a nationalist was pointless seeing as you had no control over which country your parents fu**ed in.

On the same score, being in a family is also pointless because you have no control over who your parents are.

[Mich the Tester]

Top tip: If you're arrested/kidnapped in dodgy country claim you're Welsh, they'll most probably sympathise with your plight and let you move on.

I have a friend who spent the best part of 10 years travelling in some very dodgy places like Syria and Jordon, he reckoned it worked every time.

Yeah, what's this fashionable 'victim culture' thing all about? People flying basque flags and so on? Solidarity with oppressed peoples around the world and all that?

Does it add up to 'I'm bored with being a well fed healthy middle class kid from some smart neighbourhood; I'd rather be an oppressed minority from tulipholistan'.