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| The Union Jack | |
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Considering that the Union Flag is the national flag of the United Kingdom
it often comes as a surprise that so few people in the countries which make up
Great Britain know which way up it should be flown.
Considering that the flag is quite complicated,when compared to the flags of the countries from which it was assembled, it should not be that surprising. Unlike many flags which are symmetrical, or have an obvious indication as to which way they should be hung, the Union Flag is subtly different only in the placement of its red diagonals.
The Union Flag should be hung as shown above, with the flag pole, or hoist, to its left. In this position the larger white stripes of the diagonals should be upwards on the left, and rotate clockwise. When hung vertically away from a structure, the wider strip adjacent to the pole should be towards the tip, or furthest away from the building. When hung flat against a building, or used in illustration, the flag pole should be imagined to be at the left, and when hung vertically, it should be imagined to be at the top, pointing right, with the flag rotated clockwise. The flag should never be flown upside down; this must only be done as a call for help, or as a sign of being in distress. However, as almost no one knows which way up to fly the flag, such a distress call would most likely be ignored anyway. If you are stuck in a situation with only the Union Flag as a distress signal, you would undoubtedly be better advised to write the word "Help" on the flag, or perhaps set fire to it to attract attention. Your only other hope is that you are at sea and a British ship finds you which has sailors on board who actually know which way up the damn thing is meant to go anyway. Of course, the chances are that you won't know up from down so will be mistakingly flying it the correct way up, witnessing only waves and applause as your own vessel sinks into the ocean. Is it a Jack or a Flag ?The Union Flag is often referred to the Union Jack, much to the annoyance of those who think they know better.Most often these people will say that the Union Flag is not a Jack because it is only a Jack when flown at sea. To some extent this is a correct view, although many are surprised to learn that the term Jack, for a small flag, preceded the name of the Jack Pole upon which it is hung from upon ships. The legitimacy of flying the Union Flag at all is also somewhat questionable, as the Union Jack was initially created to be flown at sea only with the permission of the monarch. When used at sea, the Union Jack is reserved for use by the government for specific purposes and is specifically the Jack of the Royal Navy, which is why it is illegal for civilian ships to fly it. On land, the use of the Union Jack is an issue which has never been resolved in legal or constitutional terms and it has never been officially adopted or defined as the national flag, no matter what one wishes to call it. Permission appears to have been given to allow the Union Jack to be used on land as far back as 1800, and there have been many authoritative confirmations since then that the Union Jack should be used as the national flag. The argument that the Union Flag and the Union Jack are two separate entities is therefore entirely false; the Union Jack is the flag which was designated to be flown at sea, and permission has been granted for it to be used on land, and it has taken on the mantle of being the national flag. As recently as 1907, the Home Office has confirmed the accepted status of the Union Jack, stating that the, "Union Jack is the national flag and there is no objection to its general use by private persons on land" [HO 45/10287/109071]. The Union Flag is what many in Britain call our adopted national flag, and is the Union Jack used on land. The notion that Jacks can only be used at sea is a recent and entirely superfluous argument; quite clearly, they are one and the same, and as such, it can be called the Union Flag, the Union Jack or even the National Flag. And this view is officially supported by the Royal Family ( who should know the truth of the matter ), who make no distinction between the three possible terms, and the UK government, who state explicitly that, "The flying of the Union Jack over government buildings is the responsibility of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport". So there's the definitive answer; Union Jack, Union Flag or simply National Flag - call it whatever you want. The European Union FlagI personally think that the Union Flag is one of least appealing flags ever created. It is archaic in style, tries to make a bold statement but looks common and brazen, and one of the reasons why the inhabitants of Britain prefer to fly their own national flags, rather than that of the union.The worst thing about the flag though, is that no one can remember how to draw it accurately, which way it should be drawn, or indeed given a real flag, which way up to hang it. The historical background to the flag's creation explains its design, but even so, still betrays the lack of equal union that exists in the kingdom. That the St George cross ( England ), takes precedent over that of St Patrick ( Ireland ), and both over St. Andrew ( Scotland ) remains an important aspect of the flag. The lack of any attributes drawn from the Welsh Flag, which by comparison is a work of art, is because England and Wales were united before the kingdom finally joined with Scotland and Ireland. It is a shame that we couldn't have created a simple flag of red, white, blue and green. It does look like we're stuck with the Union Flag, and there's no turning back, unless we can supplant it with something else; and the only option there is to take the European Union flag. Although somewhat sombre, it is dignified and has a certain aesthetic appeal to it, although admittedly, drawing twelve identical stars, properly placed, will take a lot longer to do than the colouring in. The European Union flag has however been under threat, and there have been many proposals to replace it. The latest from Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas has caused no end of consternation and ridicule ...
The Koolhaas design has been almost universally slated, and prompted the EU to confirm that they had no immediate intention of replacing the existing flag; a relief to almost everyone. Likened to a multi-coloured bar code, deckchair material, and even a TV test card, the design shows that Koolhaas is an architect and not an artist; it fails the tests of what makes a good flag in so many ways -
And on top of that, no one likes it. The Basque FlagHaving initially said that I thought the Union Flag was the the least appealing of all world flags, I had to take my hat of to the Basques.Having called the Union Flag, "Brazen", words almost fail me when it comes to this gem of an offering. The only thing I can think is that someone was either colour blind or on an acid trip when they were scanning through the Flags Of The World catalogue, looking for something appealing ...  The Basque Flag I hold nothing against the Basque people, and I don't mean to offend by my comments upon their chosen flag design, but I do really wish they'd chosen something a little more sedate and dignified. Perhaps the worse thing about it is that it looks like it's part of one of those; "If you stare at this image then look at a piece of white paper ...", optical illusions. Having complained that the Union Flag doesn't have any green in it, I may have to reconsider that view; perhaps the Union Flag isn't all that bad after all. The only thing I need to check now is whether the flag was created by the Basques for the Basques, or it was copied from a Welsh Separatist design. Flags Without FrontiersIn a world with so many boundaries, there are few flags which represent groups of people spread across many countries of the world. The primary flags which unite internationally, regardless of race or nationality, are those of the anarchist and other political movements ...
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First published on Monday the 10th of June, 2002 at 17:52:28
Last upload was on Monday the 23rd of August, 2004 at 18:28:34 |
