# the flag of the black country.



## discokermit (Mar 13, 2015)

as these things go, it's pretty good. ay it?


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## discokermit (Mar 13, 2015)

these things are taking over from st george flags round by me.


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## Pickman's model (Mar 13, 2015)

discokermit said:


> these things are taking over from st george flags round by me.


you know what it's like when you leave these flags unattended, they breed like bloody rabbits.


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## BCBlues (Mar 13, 2015)

Bostin ay it 

When's Black Country Day?


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## DotCommunist (Mar 13, 2015)

the chain is to symbolise that theyll thieve anything that isn't chained down


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## BCBlues (Mar 13, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> the chain is to symbolise that theyll thieve anything that isn't chained down



Get out of it. The chain symbolises the industrial heritage of the area and also recognition of the female chain makers of the region who were amongst the first to stand up for their rights.


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## butchersapron (Mar 13, 2015)

That's rather excellent. Seriously.

Up there with the Somerset one:


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## discokermit (Mar 13, 2015)

BCBlues said:


> Bostin ay it
> 
> When's Black Country Day?


july 14th.


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## Roadkill (Mar 13, 2015)

butchersapron said:


> That's rather excellent. Seriously.
> 
> Up there with the Somerset one:
> 
> View attachment 68774



Still makes me think of this:






That Black Country flag is quite impressive.


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## discokermit (Mar 13, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> the chain is to symbolise that theyll thieve anything that isn't chained down


bcb is right, it's about the chainmakers.
anyway, we'd just steal the chains. straight in the tat bag.


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## BCBlues (Mar 13, 2015)

discokermit said:


> july 14th.


Hopefully see a few more flying that day


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## BCBlues (Mar 13, 2015)

discokermit said:


> bcb is right, it's about the chainmakers.
> anyway, we'd just steal the chains. straight in the tat bag.



It's right, chains and all on the back of the van. Oiyunnn


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## Blagsta (Mar 13, 2015)

It's rumoured the Birmingham flag is going to be a crossed crack pipe and dog turd, with the motto "backwards".


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## discokermit (Mar 13, 2015)

butchersapron said:


> That's rather excellent. Seriously.


designed by gracie sheppard of redhill school in stourbridge.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_the_Black_Country


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## butchersapron (Mar 13, 2015)

She seems to have been around 14 when she designed that then - great work. edit: yep, 14.


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## discokermit (Mar 13, 2015)

BCBlues said:


> It's right, chains and all on the back of the van. Oiyunnn


i've got a copper earth lead i stole from my welding set at work still on my kitchen floor. i can't be arsed to weigh it in on its own and anyway i like it. it reminds me of my craftyness. i hid it for a couple of weeks then wrapped it round my body three times and wore it home. it's gotta be three quarters of an inch thick.


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## discokermit (Mar 13, 2015)

butchersapron said:


> She seems to have been around 14 when she designed that then - great work. edit: yep, 14.


everything is right about it.
mind you, they're all lefties at the black country museum.


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## kebabking (Mar 16, 2015)

the first time i saw it - and it appears to have exploded in popularity once you go past about junction 3 of the M5 - i assumed it was some new and unpleasant far right group.

putting a sticker on your car that says 'yiim from thay Black cuntraaaary' seems a bit like spraying 'i've got Syphallis' in 4 foot letters accross the front of your house, but each to their own i suppose...


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## newbie (Mar 16, 2015)

a campsite I was on last summer had 3 or 4 of these flying.  Had to ask google to check what we'd blundered into, so quite relieved to find it was only people who talk funny.


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## StoneRoad (Mar 16, 2015)

I quite like that, I've seen it as a courtesy flag on a few narrow boats.

Not sure what I should fly - probably the yellow and red of Northumberland ....


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## lizzieloo (Mar 16, 2015)

I'd have wanted some kind of "up yours" to Queen Victoria designed into it


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## lizzieloo (Mar 16, 2015)

Want


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## DotCommunist (Mar 16, 2015)

oh man check out that blokes eyebags


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## lizzieloo (Mar 16, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> oh man check out that blokes eyebags



He has a right sexy accent though


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## Citizen66 (Mar 16, 2015)

discokermit said:


> as these things go, it's pretty good. ay it?



What is that white bit doing disturbing the rest of it?


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## lizzieloo (Mar 16, 2015)

Citizen66 said:


> What is that white bit doing disturbing the rest of it?



Staffordshire nod?


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## Citizen66 (Mar 16, 2015)

Staffordshire divides anarchist communism.


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## JimW (Mar 16, 2015)

Citizen66 said:


> What is that white bit doing disturbing the rest of it?


I believe the central white area represents the glass cone, a symbol of the region's glass-making heritage since 1790, but I can't be sure 
Looks a bit like my old's dog's face when she was having a mope with the middle link her nose.


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## coley (Mar 16, 2015)

StoneRoad said:


> I quite like that, I've seen it as a courtesy flag on a few narrow boats.
> 
> Not sure what I should fly - probably the yellow and red of Northumberland ....


Err, gold and crimson, if yi divvint mind,.. Like


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## coley (Mar 16, 2015)

lizzieloo said:


> Want


Obviously Millipede and Farage have a ' family connection'


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## StoneRoad (Mar 17, 2015)

coley said:


> Err, gold and crimson, if yi divvint mind,.. Like



well, sorry, ah divvint mind, but yi knaas, i'm not really local, like.


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## Roadkill (Mar 17, 2015)

lizzieloo said:


> Want



Yes, he is quite cute, isn't he.

Er...


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## coley (Mar 17, 2015)

StoneRoad said:


> well, sorry, ah divvint mind, but yi knaas, i'm not really local, like.


Your midlands ignorance of Northern culture is understandable given your proximity to ' thi sooth' and their baleful impact, beware the witches of Dulwich though
An imaginary hamlet missing an 'l' and and an 'h'


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## kebabking (Mar 19, 2015)

coley said:


> Your midlands ignorance of Northern culture is understandable...'



i'm reading _The King in the North_ by Max Adams about King Oswald and the Northumbrian (and contemporary kingdoms) of the 6th/7th centuries - mucho facinating, and very interesting to see how Oswestry in Shropshire got its name...

will be reading more on this stuff, started with _Dark Ages_ by Michael Wood, and its exploded!


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## Kidda (Apr 2, 2015)

BCBlues said:


> Bostin ay it
> 
> When's Black Country Day?



July 14th


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## adidaswoody (Jun 19, 2015)

Black Country day in a few weeks! Who's comin up dudlaaayyyy for a swift one?


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## adidaswoody (Jun 20, 2015)

It's fell on a Tuesday which is my one day off a week so it's perfect this year!!!


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## Mr Moose (Jun 21, 2015)

butchersapron said:


> She seems to have been around 14 when she designed that then - great work. edit: yep, 14.



Clever wench ay er?


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## adidaswoody (Jun 21, 2015)

Propa! I really like the cone in the middle  wordslaaahyyy


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## BCBlues (Jun 22, 2015)

http://black-country-festival.co.uk/

http://www.blackcountryday.com/

Couple of decent websites popping up. seems to be lots of smaller events going on all over the area.
It needs a big name to pull a big crowd in one year to a large free event, stand up Kevin Rowland or KK Downing, they could even join up, 
Dexys Priest


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## Roadkill (Jul 4, 2015)

Apparently East Yorkshire has joined the craze for regional flags:






This is kind of the wrong way round, as the green is meant to represent the agricultural west of the county, and the blue the coast and ports of the east.


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## butchersapron (Jul 13, 2015)

> An equal rights campaigner provoked anger after he branded a flag designed by a 12-year-old girl to celebrate her local area's industrial heritage as offensive.
> 
> Patrick Vernon claims the Black Country flag - which is red, white and black with a chain motif - unwittingly promotes the slave trade. His comments come on the eve of the Black Country Day, which takes place on Tuesday.



...



> "It was not just the slaves who were oppressed by chainmaking, there was the woman - the white slaves of Cradley Heath - and the working classes who were oppressed by the rich foundry owners. The chain is a symbol of their oppression too."


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## discokermit (Jul 13, 2015)

true enough, patrick vernon obe. this is why we have reclaimed those symbols.


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## discokermit (Jul 13, 2015)

shame patrick didn't think a bit more about symbolism when he accepted his order of the british empire.


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## Blagsta (Jul 13, 2015)

discokermit said:


> shame patrick didn't think a bit more about symbolism when he accepted his order of the british empire.



Good point, well made


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## discokermit (Jul 13, 2015)




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## discokermit (Jul 13, 2015)

this is from the year i was born.


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## discokermit (Jul 13, 2015)

''we a ter mek arr own comfort, if not we finish up fightin''


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## adidaswoody (Jul 14, 2015)

discokermit said:


> ''we a ter mek arr own comfort, if not we finish up fightin''



I live right by this place haha it's an Indian restaurant now!


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## Athos (Jul 14, 2015)

Not as  good as the flag of Bedfordshire:
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




Technically known as Quarterly Or and Gules a Fess wavy barry way of four Argent and Azure surmounted by a Pale Sable charged with three Escallops of the third.


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## skyscraper101 (Jul 14, 2015)

There's a Brixton flag too


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## JTG (Jul 14, 2015)

skyscraper101 said:


> There's a Brixton flag too


That is hideous


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## adidaswoody (Jul 14, 2015)

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/...er-accept-the-black-country-flags-chain-logo/


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## discokermit (Jul 14, 2015)

adidaswoody said:


> I live right by this place


that's a birra bad luck yow'm avin.


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## adidaswoody (Jul 15, 2015)

discokermit said:


> that's a birra bad luck yow'm avin.


Haha nah braarrrrly hills sound! Better then bloody bilston


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## rubbershoes (Jul 15, 2015)

butchersapron said:


> That's rather excellent. Seriously.
> 
> Up there with the Somerset one:
> 
> View attachment 68774




Sadly that one wasn't the winner. I wish it had been


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## kebabking (Jul 15, 2015)

adidaswoody said:


> Haha nah braarrrrly hills sound! Better then bloody bilston



you're not setting the bar very high, fucking Raqqa is better than Bilston.


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## beesonthewhatnow (Jul 25, 2015)

And now Birmingham has one:


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## Smokeandsteam (Jul 25, 2015)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> And now Birmingham has one:


It's fucking horrible. Looks ten bob


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## farmerbarleymow (Jul 26, 2015)

Smokeandsteam said:


> It's fucking horrible. Looks ten bob


It's almost as if they had to include something that looks like a B on the left hand side so that people would have a chance of working out what the flag is supposed to represent.  

I watched an interesting TED talk about flags - don't have the link but the bloke who did it was called Roman Mars.


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## farmerbarleymow (Jul 26, 2015)

I had a look to see if Manchester had a flag and it seems that it doesn't. But Greater Manchester does and it's a bit shit.


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## Smokeandsteam (Jul 26, 2015)

It looks like it took about 3 minutes to knock together. Some random zig zags (why) and then slap a bull in the centre. 

Absolute shit.


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## Smokeandsteam (Jul 26, 2015)

farmerbarleymow said:


> I had a look to see if Manchester had a flag and it seems that it doesn't. But Greater Manchester does and it's a bit shit.



Jesus wept. Who is designing and paying for this crap??

I'd have thought the mancs would have had a spliff, a beanie hat and some flares on their flag at least.


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## kebabking (Jul 27, 2015)

*

*

Shropshire. three Leopards muthafuckas. that is all.


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## BCBlues (Jul 27, 2015)

kebabking said:


> *
> 
> *
> 
> Shropshire. three Leopards muthafuckas. that is all.



...and Sealions juggling


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## farmerbarleymow (Jul 27, 2015)

kebabking said:


> *
> 
> *
> 
> Shropshire. three Leopards muthafuckas. that is all.


That's even worse than the Brummie one.


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## kebabking (Jul 27, 2015)

farmerbarleymow said:


> That's even worse than the Brummie one.



feck off!

the brum rag is a makey-uppey bunch of wank, the banner of Salop however is an ancient clarion call to eternal war against firstly the Welsh, and secondly 'people' from Cheshire.

i see the 'flag' of Manchester is a burnt out motor, a discarded nappy and a monobrow on a background of discarded betting slips. stay classy.


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## farmerbarleymow (Jul 28, 2015)

kebabking said:


> feck off!
> 
> the brum rag is a makey-uppey bunch of wank, the banner of Salop however is an ancient clarion call to eternal war against firstly the Welsh, and secondly 'people' from Cheshire.
> 
> i see the 'flag' of Manchester is a burnt out motor, a discarded nappy and a monobrow on a background of discarded betting slips. stay classy.


It may be ancient, but it's still shit.


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## farmerbarleymow (Jul 28, 2015)

Anyway, what sort of stupid is a name like 'salop'? It sounds like slap, or dungarees. So salop is really dungareeshire.  

https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/salopette

Totally with you about the weird Cheshire people - friedaweed is a prime example of their wrongness.


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## friedaweed (Jul 28, 2015)

Fuck you cunts 






We've got giant hay bales to hide behind. You'll never find us


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## kebabking (Jul 28, 2015)

friedaweed said:


> Fuck you cunts
> 
> 
> We've got giant hay bales to hide behind. You'll never find us



ah yes, dry grass, that ancient and well-proven defence against a troop of fucking Leopards. 

to be truthful, you might be better off in your white Range Rover Evoque...


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## farmerbarleymow (Jul 28, 2015)

kebabking said:


> ah yes, dry grass, that ancient and well-proven defence against a troop of fucking Leopards.
> 
> to be truthful, you might be better off in your white Range Rover Evoque...


The Cheshire lot hide behind their hay bales and fuck sheep - it's their only form of entertainment. There are no depths to which Cheshires will not plumb.


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## friedaweed (Jul 28, 2015)

kebabking said:


> ah yes, dry grass, that ancient and well-proven defence against a troop of fucking Leopards.
> 
> to be truthful, you might be better off in your white Range Rover Evoque...





farmerbarleymow said:


> The Cheshire lot hide behind their hay bales and fuck sheep - it's their only form of entertainment. There are no depths to which Cheshires will not plumb.




Fuck the pair of you. Your leopards wont know which bale I'm hid behind. It's like the furry balls and the three plastic cups. You'll never find us until we decide to attack. You'll be so busy trying to burn down the first wheatsheaf that you'll be left bent over in a compromised position trying to light a petrol zippo with your stupid leopard paws.

No one expects the Cheshire compromised position. 

Man or beast once your legs are trapped in our waders there is no escape. You're fucked


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## farmerbarleymow (Jul 28, 2015)

friedaweed said:


> Fuck the pair of you. Your leopards wont know which bale I'm hid behind. It's like the furry balls and the three plastic cups. You'll never find us until we decide to attack. You'll be so busy trying to burn down the first wheatsheaf that you'll be left bent over in a compromised position trying to light a petrol zippo with your stupid leopard paws.
> 
> No one expects the Cheshire compromised position.
> 
> Man or beast once your legs are trapped in our waders there is no escape. You're fucked


Waders? I'd that code for something?


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## friedaweed (Jul 28, 2015)

farmerbarleymow said:


> Waders? I'd that code for something?


Every foo know you gotta pair Mowfo  Don't come the innocent here


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## purenarcotic (Jul 28, 2015)

What is the point of the Birmingham flag?


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## stuff_it (Aug 1, 2015)

butchersapron said:


> That's rather excellent. Seriously.
> 
> Up there with the Somerset one:
> 
> View attachment 68774


Rawr


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## stuff_it (Aug 1, 2015)

discokermit said:


> i've got a copper earth lead i stole from my welding set at work still on my kitchen floor. i can't be arsed to weigh it in on its own and anyway i like it. it reminds me of my craftyness. i hid it for a couple of weeks then wrapped it round my body three times and wore it home. it's gotta be three quarters of an inch thick.


Release your inner pikey. [emoji41]


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## stuff_it (Aug 1, 2015)




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## kebabking (Aug 3, 2015)

purenarcotic said:


> What is the point of the Birmingham flag?



apparently the old red cross for Bubonic Plague has been taken, so they had to come up with some other device that means the same thing.

#christbirminghamisafuckingtoilet


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## farmerbarleymow (Aug 4, 2015)

stuff_it said:


>


That's shit too I'm afraid. Looks like it's sponsored by the tourist board with that daft figure in the middle. And the green just makes it look mouldy.


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## butchersapron (Jul 18, 2017)

Black Country flag is 'racist' and should be scrapped says Wolverhampton MP Eleanor Smith



> Speaking on Black Country Day yesterday, Ms Smith said: “I have serious concerns about the racist connotations of the flag, particularly the fact that chains are being used to represent the Black Country.
> 
> “The white on black imagery used together with the chains . . . when you break it down I’m not going to pretend it doesn’t worry me as a black person. People have to understand that it can be seen as offensive. I have absolutely nothing against the chainmakers. They were working people making money like working people do.
> 
> “But that doesn’t change the fact that I think the way the flag is done is a big mistake.”


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## beesonthewhatnow (Jul 18, 2017)

Oh ffs


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## JTG (Jul 18, 2017)

butchersapron said:


> That's rather excellent. Seriously.
> 
> Up there with the Somerset one:
> 
> View attachment 68774


dreadful


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## BCBlues (Jul 18, 2017)

More on Eleanor Smiths  (alleged) comments

Black Country flag 'race' row: Wolverhampton MP Eleanor Smith backtracks over comments

Hard to know who to believe here as the E&S is full of rubbish as are the thoughts of our lovely MPs.  

The flag looks fine to me, the development of chain making in the Black Country came along decades after the Abolition of Slavery Act in the UK so if any chains made for shipping and industry purposes did end up in the slave trade then it's the fault of our politicians,  not the Black Country Working Classes who were toiling in horrendous conditions themselves to get bread on the table.


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## J Ed (Jul 21, 2017)

BCBlues said:


> More on Eleanor Smiths  (alleged) comments
> 
> Black Country flag 'race' row: Wolverhampton MP Eleanor Smith backtracks over comments
> 
> ...



The stuff that Smith said about the flag is wrong but the way that the E&S has whipped up racists against her, and covered the issue to the exclusion of anything else, has been pretty reprehensible. Nasty Tory rag.


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## twentythreedom (Jul 21, 2017)

Dorset flag is OK but needs boats or fossils


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## chilango (Jul 21, 2017)

Wessex


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## chilango (Jul 21, 2017)

Cumbria is a bit confusing what with Cumberland, Westmorland etc but I see this one out and about a bit. Doesn't do the placc justice imo.


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## butchersapron (Jul 21, 2017)

Looks like  a shit underfunded crown green bowling team but on on the sea.

It's rubbish.


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## chilango (Jul 21, 2017)

Peter Seville designed quite a neat one for the North West. Never seen irl though


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## chilango (Jul 21, 2017)

butchersapron said:


> Looks like  a shit underfunded crown green bowling team but on on the sea.
> 
> It's rubbish.


Yep.

Should be way more Viking.


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## J Ed (Jul 21, 2017)

I think the Northumbria flag has to be one of the most popular county flags, you see it on cars and stuff, and it isn't really that good or interesting


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## chilango (Jul 21, 2017)

This one for "The North" is just a bit too subtle imo. Nice try though.


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## butchersapron (Jul 21, 2017)

isle of man should be three cavs on the end of the legs.


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## chilango (Jul 21, 2017)

J Ed said:


> I think the Northumbria flag has to be one of the most popular county flags, you see it on cars and stuff, and it isn't really that good or interesting



I like it.


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## butchersapron (Jul 21, 2017)

Future cav, past cav and present cav.


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## chilango (Jul 21, 2017)

You see the Devon one a lot


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## J Ed (Jul 21, 2017)

I quite like the colour on the Lincolnshire flag






South Yorkshire is good too, a nice calming blue


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## butchersapron (Jul 21, 2017)

chilango said:


> Peter Seville designed quite a neat one for the North West. Never seen irl though


He could have done stuff for the tour de yorkshire with stage profiles done JD way.


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## J Ed (Jul 21, 2017)

chilango said:


> You see the Devon one a lot



That's true, I've never been to Devon but I've seen it loads on cars


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## butchersapron (Jul 21, 2017)

chilango said:


> You see the Devon one a lot


I have never seen this in my life.


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## chilango (Jul 21, 2017)

butchersapron said:


> I have never seen this in my life.



Really?

I see it regularly. Not just in Devon, but on cars all over the pkace.


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## J Ed (Jul 21, 2017)

butchersapron said:


> I have never seen this in my life.



Really?


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## butchersapron (Jul 21, 2017)

Both of you - yep - never once seen this around bristol/somerset.

It looks like the sort of thing an irish line dancer promoting a racist meeting would do.


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## chilango (Jul 21, 2017)

I'm in Devon next week, I'll keep my eye out for it.


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## mx wcfc (Jul 21, 2017)

The Cornish love their county so much that the Cornish flag on the back of a car is far from rare,  here in Hampshire at least.


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## twentythreedom (Jul 21, 2017)

butchersapron said:


> Looks like  a shit underfunded crown green bowling team but on on the sea.



Should be the Dorset flag


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## twentythreedom (Jul 21, 2017)

butchersapron said:


> Both of you - yep - never once seen this around bristol/somerset.
> 
> It looks like the sort of thing an irish line dancer promoting a racist meeting would do.


Excellent put downs on this thread butchers, good work


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## chilango (Jul 24, 2017)

chilango said:


> I'm in Devon next week, I'll keep my eye out for it.



Two hanging from roof at South Molton market.


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## Sea Star (Jul 24, 2017)

butchersapron said:


> I have never seen this in my life.


Nor me  - ever!!


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## chilango (Jul 24, 2017)

AuntiStella said:


> Nor me  - ever!!



Seen today (see post above).


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## Sea Star (Jul 24, 2017)

Is it a new thing? You'd have thought that over the years, being born there and living there for 20 years or so I'd have noticed


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## chilango (Jul 25, 2017)

Stickers on lampposts in Okehampton.

Painted on a coach outside Exeter station.


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## chilango (Jul 25, 2017)

AuntiStella said:


> Is it a new thing? You'd have thought that over the years, being born there and living there for 20 years or so I'd have noticed



Dunno, I first noticed them in and around Tavistock about 3 years back.


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## Sea Star (Jul 25, 2017)

chilango said:


> Dunno, I first noticed them in and around Tavistock about 3 years back.


OK - I haven't really spent much time down there in the last few years - though I was in Plymouth about 4 times last summer.


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## chilango (Jul 25, 2017)

Obviously I'm not from round here. I just go to Dartmoor quite regularly. Plus the occasional family holiday in Devon.


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## hot air baboon (Jul 25, 2017)

is it one of those "false-flags" people keep going on about ?   

_In 2004, users of the BBC Devon website voted on a flag for Devon. Since then, the black, green and white flag has become a symbol of pride throughout in the county._

BBC - Devon - History - The story of the Devon flag


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## chilango (Jul 26, 2017)

Spotted in South Molton this morning...


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## chilango (Jul 26, 2017)

Chumleigh town centre this afternoon


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## chilango (Jul 27, 2017)

Spotted in a pub window
On the back of a mobility scooter.


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## butchersapron (Jul 27, 2017)

Why were you on the back of a mobility scooter? That's not safe and they're not for joyriding.


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## chilango (Jul 27, 2017)

butchersapron said:


> Why were you on the back of a mobility scooter? That's not safe and they're not for joyriding.



I found tractors too hard to nick.


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