How does this make you feel?

This is an image of a flag of the Cross of St George, aka the England flag. You can tell it’s a flaggy-flag, because on the left-hand side you’ll see two eyelets through which you can pass cable-ties while wobbling up a ladder against a lamppost at 2:30am. Image credit: Temu, who must be laughing all the way to Shanghai’s Financial District right now …

Quite a few of these have appeared, attached to street furniture and bridges, around Shropshire and the whole country over the last few weeks. Some budget-label-Banksies have painted the symbol on mini-roundabouts, for reasons known only to themselves.

How do you feel about The Whole Flags Thing? And what’s really behind it?

‘Don’t look at the real reasons why the country’s in a shithole state’

I’ve not done an episode about this before because I try to keep Hello You as positive and solutions-focused as possible, and I couldn’t find anything positive to say about the flags phenomenon. It’s certainly not a solution to anything.

Then I heard from Amanda Jones. She’s got something positive to suggest, in response to the proliferation of flags.

‘The nation’s been turned into a zombie apocalypse with pitchforks’

Hear about Amanda’s idea and how you can be part of it, in this episode of Hello You the Shropshire podcast.

You can email Amanda or find her on Facebook. And I’d love to know what you think of this episode of Hello You. Leave a comment?

If you’ve found it interesting, share it with your friends?

‘These people are in my neighbourhood. They are in need. Am I going to stand by and watch bullies treat them terribly, or am I going to stand up and say “You don’t speak for me”?’

Once again, this episode of the podcast came about because someone had something important to say, and wanted it to be heard by you.

They wanted it to be heard by thoughtful people who care about their community.

If you have something on your mind that you’d like to share with others, if you want to feel genuinely heard, send me a message, and let’s talk?

And if you want to continue the flags conversation in a constructive and worthwhile way, even if you’re one of my neighbours in whom I’ve expressed disappointment, get in touch?

This is what I do

Hello You the Shropshire podcast is intelligent, informed, curious and progressive conversation for and about Shropshire and the rest of the world.

And where else are you going to find that?

If this is what you need in your life, then subscribe!

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Thank you for being a member of the Hello You family

Take care of yourself. Take care of the people around you, and I really hope the people around you are taking care of you, too.

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