Mark Smith: The danger of ‘criminal’ flags and why I’ve changed my mind about the Union Jack

HERE’S a remarkable fact: the police in Scotland holds a list of flags which it could be a criminal offence to display in public, and the list includes the Irish tricolour, the Israeli and Palestinian flags and the Catalan flag. But here’s an even more remarkable fact: academics with an interest in flags contacted by my colleague Peter Swindon to comment on the list were too scared to talk publicly because of the death threats they have received in the past. This is, I’m afraid, how flags work: they start with pride and end with hate. . https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/16898241.mark-smith-the-danger-of-criminal-flags-and-why-ive-changed-my-mind-about-the-union-jack/