However, “at other times, the flag accompanied imperial conquest and oppression”, he notes. The flag “has always been part of the British national consciousness”, writes Sean O’Grady in The Independent, and is “sometimes associated with freedom and democracy, and the defeat of fascism”. The new guidance has met with a mixed response from commentators. Councils will also be “urged to do the same from their premises”, and the only exceptions to the rule will be “times when a single flagpole is otherwise occupied, whether by another UK flag or flags to mark particular events”. The decision to fly the Union Jack continuously from government buildings appears to be part of “ongoing government efforts to associate itself with a more overt union-based nationalism”, the paper continues.
#Union jack tv#
Members of the current government have shown an “increasing fondness” for ensuring that a Union Jack “is part of their home or office backdrop for TV interviews”, says The Guardian. But the trend triggered a row recently when BBC Breakfast presenters Charlie Stayt and Naga Munchetty “were chastised for gently teased” Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick over his display of the flag.
“It may come from the ‘jack-et’ of the English or Scottish soldiers, or from the name of James I who originated the first union in 1603,” says the Royal Family’s website. The origins of the term “Union Jack” is unclear, but Buckingham Palace historians believe it may date from the time of Queen Anne’s reign (1702-14). Many people believe that the national flag should be called the “Jack” only when flown from a British warship, but the Flag Institute says that “either name is valid”. The Union Jack is now raised on about 20 designated days a year, “covering national saints’ days across the UK nations and a selection of royal occasions, primarily the birthdays of senior family members”, says The Guardian. According to the Royal Family’s website, “this is because when the Union flag was created in 1606, the Principality of Wales by that time was already united with England and was no longer a separate principality”. The symbol of the fourth nation in the union - the Welsh dragon - doesn’t appear on the flag, however. In January 1801, the effective date of the legislative union of Great Britain and Ireland, the Cross of St Patrick was incorporated into the design - a red diagonal cross. The flag originally comprised the “red cross of England superimposed on the white cross of Scotland, with the blue field of the latter”, says Encyclopaedia Britannica. The flag dates back to 1606, three years after James VI of Scotland ascended to the throne of England to becomes James I.Įngland and Scotland remained separate states on his accession, but a new flag was created as a “symbol of harmony” following “alterations between English and Scottish ships”, writes historian Dominic Sandbrook in an article for BBC History Magazine. The Union Jack is “so called because it combines the crosses of the three countries united under one sovereign - the kingdoms of England and Wales, of Scotland and of Ireland”, explains the Royal Family’s official website. In “another apparent escalation of the ongoing flag-based culture war,” newly issued guidance from the Department of Culture advises that the Union Jack should be flown every day from all government buildings in England, Wales and Scotland, The Guardian reports.Ĭulture Secretary Oliver Dowden has called Union Jack “a proud reminder of our history and the ties that bind us” - but not everyone agrees. Government ministers looking to bolster the embattled state of the union are pinning their hopes on a potent symbol.
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