{"id":359656,"date":"2025-08-20T14:45:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T14:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/359656\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T14:45:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T14:45:11","slug":"our-streets-are-full-of-rubbish-and-rats-but-the-council-is-focused-on-england-flags-uk-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/359656\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Our streets are full of rubbish and rats – but the council is focused on England flags’ | UK | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Residents have told their council to concentrate on solving the bin strike chaos and rat infestation in their city rather than taking down British and English flags.<\/a> The city’s council removed hundreds of British and English flags due to safety concerns, but this sparked anger among many defiant locals, as even more flags now adorn several streets.<\/p>\n

The authority also warned people to stop putting British and English flags<\/a> on lampposts in suburbs such as Weoley Castle and has threatened to remove them. The BBC<\/a> reports council has already taken down 200 banners and flags as part of an initiative to install LED lighting. The council had been accused of double standards, as elsewhere, Palestinian flags have been flying in a show of solidarity with the people of Gaza during the Israel<\/a>-Hamas war.<\/p>\n

A leaked communication revealed that the authority needed the “support of the police due to issues” removing them, leading Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick to condemn the approach to tackling UK flags as “blatant two-tier bias against the British people”<\/p>\n

Downing Street has also waded into the row after it emerged that Tower Hamlets council in East London was also taking down national flags. Asked if Sir Keir is supportive of people who put up English flags, a spokesman said: “Absolutely, patriotism, putting up English flags. We put up English flags all around Downing Street every time the English football team – women’s and men’s – are out trying to win games for us.”<\/p>\n

When the Daily Express visited Birmingham this week, Palestinian flags were still flying on some streets and around children’s play areas. Several Afghan flags fluttering in the breeze were also present.<\/p>\n

However, in the southwest of the city, in the areas of Weoley Castle and Yardley Wood, flags had been put up once again on lampposts and signs, and locals seemed to appreciate them<\/a>.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Martine Evans, 34, was walking her dog Lister across the top of Bartley Reservoir in Birmingham, where England flags on lampposts line the busy road. She said: \u201cEvery country flies their flag, so why has it got to be different for us if we want to have some flags up? I don\u2019t see the problem with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see why people say it might offend certain people. Are minorities saying they are offended? I\u2019ve not heard anyone say that at all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe council are afraid that it might upset people, I think they are just afraid of offending someone, but when it\u2019s the World Cup, there are England flags everywhere, hanging out of every window, and people don\u2019t get offended then.<\/p>\n

\u201cI work with someone who has lived in the UK for about two years, and he doesn\u2019t care about the flags. There are plenty of people from all different races around here, and no one has mentioned being offended.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the council is trying to speak on behalf of them, it doesn\u2019t make any sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Evans, who works in an aquatics shop, said she didn\u2019t think she had ever seen so many flags being flown before, and it was \u201cnice to see, to be honest\u201d.<\/p>\n

Nurse Marsha Meade, who has previously lived in the United States and now lives in Weoley Castle, said she was impressed by the aesthetic quality the flags brought to her neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are a visual enhancement; it can be so bland around here, and they brighten up the place and make it kind of pretty,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure what the intended purpose is, but I suppose it might be to put people more in touch with nationalist feeling. I see no reason why they should come down. When I am in North America, they are everywhere; you kind of get accustomed to it. It\u2019s not offensive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Meade said the local authority should pay more attention to focusing on restarting regular bin and recycling collections, rather than worrying about flags. “If we could go back to our collection of trash, particularly not just the weekly collections, but the recycling bins and so on,” she said.<\/p>\n

Another resident, who did not wish to be named, also pointed to the bins as a more pressing issue. “There are neighbourhoods overrun with rats from uncollected rubbish, surely that should be a bigger priority,” he said.<\/p>\n

Nick Wood, a student landlord, said he thought the reaction to the flags was \u201call in the head\u201d of the person who looks at them.<\/p>\n

He joked: \u201cIf the council come to take them down, I want a couple because if Birmingham City FC get to Wembley this year, I want to take them with me. It disappoints me if people don\u2019t treat it a little bit lightheartedly. I\u2019m not getting serious. If people feel it\u2019s being put up for right-wing motives, I think that is in the mind of the person who looks at it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t got a problem with the flags, I went up towards the Quinton area of the city the other day and there were Scottish, Welsh and Irish flags. These days, I think with all the trouble we\u2019ve got in the world, it\u2019s just a bit of lighthearted fun.<\/p>\n

“Anyone coming here from Iraq, Afghanistan, or Syria, or wherever, I think they should be pleased to see the flags here, because we\u2019ve taken those people in. I would hope immigrants enjoy the sight of them because they know they are in a safe place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former coach driver, Peter Lane, 74, said the flags were \u201cgreat\u201d, adding he didn\u2019t see any \u201chealth and safety\u201d risk. \u201cThey are not interfering with anybody,\u201d he added, \u201cWhy not put the English flags up? There\u2019s not a racial element involved in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not everyone is as enamoured with the show of national pride on the streets. One woman, who did not wish to be named, said she thought it was \u201call rather silly\u201d and actually \u201cnot very British\u201d to have flags everywhere.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cI find it all a bit boring, who has got time to put flags everywhere?\u201d<\/p>\n

Flags are not the only sign of national pride popping up in the suburbs of the Second City. Several white mini-roundabouts have now been given a makeover with a St George\u2019s Cross. The Daily Express counted at least five around the Yardley Wood area of the city.<\/p>\n

Jackie and Stan Betterton, aged 84 and 86, were waiting for a bus near one of the newly painted patriotic traffic orbits. Mrs Betterton, a former Birmingham Children\u2019s Hospital worker, said: \u201cI think we always get people who don\u2019t like it, but what\u2019s wrong with being British? We are British and English, what\u2019s wrong with that? Painting the roundabouts is fine with me, I have no problem with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Betterton, a former social worker, admitted he didn\u2019t realise the roundabouts had been painted, but he added: \u201cIf there\u2019s lots of people getting here on all these boats, there must be something we are doing right.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the leafy suburb of Moseley, just a short drive from the UK flag-festooned streets, flutters one of the largest Palestine flags still flying in the city. The huge banner waves proudly from the roof of Cafephilia, a coffee shop and eatery.<\/p>\n

Owner \u2018Bob\u2019 told the Daily Express he was flying the symbol to highlight the \u201cgenocide\u201d happening in the enclave.<\/p>\n

Bob admits he lost some customers \u201cwho had been coming for years\u201d when he put up the flag, which he said was \u201cbaffling.\u201d He said officers from Birmingham City Council had also approached him initially to ask him to take it down.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThey wanted the flag down, I said on what grounds? And they said health and safety. I said we didn\u2019t have the insurance for them to go on the roof to see if it was safe. But eventually they said the flag was safe because we showed them photographs as evidence, and we can now fly the flag officially.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cPalestine needs to be recognised for what is going on in there. It was always my dream to have a big Palestine flag to show support, not for terrorists, not for the fighting, but for the normal people, children being killed, what has got to do with the war? We are not flying a Hamas flag, we are flying a Palestine flag.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bob\u2019s support for Palestine doesn\u2019t stop at flags. He has also set up a charity that helps to deliver water aid to the territory in tankers.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Birmingham City Council said the authority was fulfilling obligations to remove all items attached without permission to lampposts, including British and English flags, and Palestinian ones.<\/p>\n

They added: “We proudly fly the Union flag outside the Council House every day and recognise the importance of the Union Flag and Flag of St George as symbols of national pride.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrummies are proud to be British and proud that this is a welcoming city celebrating many different cultures.<\/p>\n

“When it comes to items attached to lamp posts, it is normal council procedure for these to be removed on a regular basis, in line with our health and safety obligations.<\/p>\n

“As has always been the case, people are free to fly or hang flags from their homes or gardens, but we ask that they are not attached to street furniture.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Residents have told their council to concentrate on solving the bin strike chaos and rat infestation in their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359657,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7820],"tags":[855,984,748,393,126556,4884,126558,26191,126557,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-359656","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-birmingham","8":"tag-birmingham","9":"tag-birmingham-city-council","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-flag-controversy","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-national-pride-and-patriotism","15":"tag-rats","16":"tag-rubbish-and-rats-crisis","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115061635303828549","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}