Should Northern Ireland remain part of UK?

[mjw47]

correct. and the reason belfast council is no longer controlled by unionist parties is because unionists are no longer the majority in belfast. it's called democracy in action. unfortunately unionists only agree to that concept when it favours them.

as i pointed out belfast now fly the flag on exactly the same days as all the cities in britain [plus one actually, they also fly it on st patricks day].

how could any reasonable person object to that? over 100 police officers have been injured in these protests. this is how so called 'loyalists' behave when a democratic decision goes against them.

[Jeffrey Shaw]

'Reasonable' is rarely a word used in NI politics, you know.

[mjw47]

you are correct again. to a certain degree it applies to both sides in the dispute although in my opinion the so called 'loyalists' are more guilty of this type of behavior.

 

as an anglo irishman [english father irish mother] i am familiar with both england & the irish republic having lived & attended school in both countries. it seems to me that your average

inhabitant of both of these countries regard both tribes in the north of ireland in a similar fashion. there is too much unresolved historic hate in the province & in reality neither country wants anything to do with it. unfortunatley the problem isn't going away any time soon.

[buck]

The Union Flag, sometimes called the Union Jack ( though its only supposed to be called that when its flown from the bow of one of HM's ships) has been a subject of much passion over the years, much more than it ought to be. It is supposed to and does have the flags of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland embodied in it. But all the countries except NI want to go their own way and just use their own. You rarely ever see it flown anywhere in the Republic of Ireland even outside hotels of International standing. They don't mind British visitors and their money though. The singing group Wolfe Tones sang a song calling it that bloody rag. I wonder how many Brits bought that song. I've always been proud of it, the best looking flag in the world.

[andygardener]

The Union Flag, sometimes called the Union Jack ( though its only supposed to be called that when its flown from the bow of one of HM's ships) has been a subject of much passion over the years, much more than it ought to be. It is supposed to and does have the flags of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland embodied in it. But all the countries except NI want to go their own way and just use their own. You rarely ever see it flown anywhere in the Republic of Ireland even outside hotels of International standing. They don't mind British visitors and their money though. The singing group Wolfe Tones sang a song calling it that bloody rag. I wonder how many Brits bought that song. I've always been proud of it, the best looking flag in the world.

 

No it doesn't. It has the flags of England, Scotland and the old Ireland on it - crosses of St George, St Andrew and St Patrick. Wales is not represented.

[mjw47]

last year i was travelling through kerry & past a top drawer five star hotel. they were flying the flags of all european nations plus the stars & stripes.

they weren't flying the union flag but instead had come up with the perfect diplomatic solution. they were flying the st georges cross, st andrews cross & the welsh dragon.

you see very few irish people have a problem with the english,scottish or welsh they do however have a very understandable problem with britain! a little bit like english people who don't have a problem with european countries & enjoy holidaying there but don't have much time for the european union.

[SevenRivers]

It's a myth that it can only be called the Union Jack when at sea. I was once listening to an expert on flags on BBC R4 who said it was just as acceptable to call it the Union Jack on land.

[Harleyman]

The White Ensign is flown from Royal Navy ships at sea. It consists of the red cross, white background with the union flag in the top left corner

[buck]

No it doesn't. It has the flags of England, Scotland and the old Ireland on it - crosses of St George, St Andrew and St Patrick. Wales is not represented.

Contrary to what you're saying, there are four flags embodied in the Union flag not three. This is why there are two red diagonals in it, hence the offset. The left diagonals are not equally spaced, the upper one being thicker than the lower one. The right one is the opposite, upper is thinner than the lower. Thats how you tell whether the flag is upside down or not, and allows Wales a rightful place in it. At the moment only Northern Ireland has a right to be included, not all Ireland.

[andygardener]

Contrary to what you're saying, there are four flags embodied in the Union flag not three. This is why there are two red diagonals in it, hence the offset. The left diagonals are not equally spaced, the upper one being thicker than the lower one. The right one is the opposite, upper is thinner than the lower. Thats how you tell whether the flag is upside down or not, and allows Wales a rightful place in it. At the moment only Northern Ireland has a right to be included, not all Ireland.

 

Well quite and the stars and stripes represents the first 13 surahs of the quran and the 51 wives of Noah.

 

The red diagonals are the cross of St Patrick. The clue is in the word "cross" in case you thought one diagonal represented one thing and the other another.

 

Stick to whatever it is that you do, British heraldic history is not your forte.