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NZ Flag: speech at Victoria University

John Key MP, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, has made a speech at Victoria University in Wellington, launching his proposal for a referendum on the future on the nation’s flag. You can read the speech here. It is a most impressive, thoughtful and statesmanlike view of the significance of a national flag in the […]

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DCLG flys Cornwall Flag to celebrate St Piran’s Day

Source: www.gov.uk St Piran’s Day is named after Cornwall’s patron saint of tin miners and is celebrated far and wide on 5 March each year. The day first started being observed in the late 19th and early 20th century and has become increasing popular since the 1950s. In recent years celebrations and parades marking the […]

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“We are not encouraging a change to the flag”

Source: The Atlantic The Flag Institute, the U.K.’s national flag charity and the largest membership-based vexillological organization in the world, recently polled its members and found that nearly 65 percent of respondents felt the Union Jack should be changed if Scotland becomes independent. And after the poll, the organization found itself flooded with suggested replacements […]

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Flags at half-mast for Nelson Mandela

Following the death of President Nelson Mandela on Thursday 5th December, No.10 has announced that flags are to be flown at half mast on Friday 6th December. If normal protocol is followed flags should also be at half-mast on the day of his funeral. The South African flag can be flown at half-mast alongside the […]

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BBC ‘deluged’ with designs in Flag Institute-inspired debate

Following the national conversation kick-started by the Flag Institute this week on what might happen to the flag of the United Kingdom in the event of Scottish independence, the BBC have admitted that they have since been ‘deluged’ by flag designs submitted by members of the public. Whilst some of the designs were – inevitably […]

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65% think the Union Flag should change if Scotland leaves

Almost 65% of people responding to a recent Flag Institute survey think the Union Flag SHOULD change if Scotland becomes independent. The Scottish Government intends to hold a referendum of the Scottish electorate, on the issue of independence from the United Kingdom, on Thursday 18 September 2014. The question asked in the referendum will be “Should Scotland be […]

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Symbols of sovereignty: the National Flag

President of the Flag Institute, Captain Malcolm Farrow OBE RN, has released his recent paper looking at UK symbols of sovereignty. “Like every other nation, the United Kingdom has a range of national symbols signifying sovereignty on land, at sea and in the air. Because of our long and complex history, the UK quite possibly has […]

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Trafalgar flags

The National Maritime Museum is appealing for funds to secure two surviving flags from the battle of Trafalgar. The first is a Union Flag, flown from HMS Minotaur. The second is an Austrian ensign, which may come from the Neptuno, a vessel captured at Trafalgar by Minotaur and Spartiate. The museum plans to display the […]

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Flags to fly for new prince

Following the happy announcement of the birth of a son to their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, it has been decided that the HM Government buildings should fly the Union Flag at full mast from 8am until 8pm, today, Tuesday 23 July 2013. Local authorities, companies and individuals are not bound by […]

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Canada swaps its naval flags

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