Flagman’s world of flags

From soccer round up

SINGAPORE, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Soccer news in brief from around the world:

* South Korea’s soccer chief has taken a swipe at North Korea for refusing to allow the South’s flag and national anthem to be used at next month’s World Cup qualifier between the two countries.

“There is no reason why North Korea cannot raise South Korea’s flag and play our anthem,” Chung Mong-joon said, according to the Yonhap news agency. “South Korea has allowed North Korea to raise its flag and play its anthem when the two sides played in the South.”

North Korea wants to use a unified flag and joint anthem, like at the Olympics, although FIFA rules stipulate each country must have their own.

You can buy the South Korean flag here

From the Christian science monitor

Pristina, Kosovo - Kosovo’s bid for independence edged a step closer this week with the news that the new state’s constitution, flag, and national emblem are to be decided in parliament in coming days.

After months of drafting, senior officials in the Kosovo government have said that the constitution upon which the new state will rest is almost complete, and they have short-listed designs for the flag and emblem.

The short list was supposed to be kept secret, but a source close to the Kosovo Symbols Commission, tasked with choosing the flag, described the final three designs that are to be presented to the parliament for selection.

The first, according to the source, is an outline of a map of Kosovo on a blue background, with yellow stars representing the aspiring state’s ambition of eventual membership in the European Union. The second is a simple tricolor of red, white, and black vertical stripes. The third design is identical, but carries a spiral motif on the white segment.

The three designs have been whittled down from almost 1,000 entries in a public competition launched last year. The rules stipulated that the flag must not carry any image associated with an ethnic group but should be politically neutral to avoid aggravating tensions between the Albanian majority and Serb minority in Kosovo.

The condition has meant that designs based on Albania’s flag, the black double-headed eagle on a red background that flutters above graves of Kosovo Liberation Army guerrilla fighters throughout the breakaway province, would not be considered. The flag is synonymous in Kosovo with the Albanian community and is the first choice of many Kosovars.

“I can’t believe that these are the choices for the flag,” says Shqipe Abazi. “None of the designs have anything to do with Albanian people. It should be red and black. It’s a big deal – how many times does a country get to choose a flag?”

But officials were adamant that Kosovo’s flag would not resemble Albania’s. “We will not have the flag of any other country,” said Fadil Hysa, the government adviser tasked with heading the Symbols Commission. “It cannot have an eagle,” he added.

The competition attracted entries from as far as New Zealand and South Africa. There were even seven entries from Serbia.

From the Dorset Daily Echo

A PROUD former Gurkha with 28 years’ service for the British Army has been told he cannot display his regiment’s flag.

Asbahadui Gurung, a former captain with the Queen’s Gurkha Signals, wanted to display the regiment’s standard along with the union flag outside the Gurkha bar and restaurant in Sandford.

But his application to hang 1.5-metre flags on 4.5-metre poles outside the Wareham Road premises was refused last Thursday because the flag is not permitted under current advertising regulations.

The only permitted flags are any country’s national flag, the commonwealth flag, that of the EU or UN, a county flag and the flag of any saint.

The planning officer’s report stated: “The regimental Gurkha flag does not fit into any of these categories.”

Although neighbours the highways authority and the parish council did not object, the case officer recommended refusal on the grounds that the “proposed additional flags and flag poles would constitute unnecessary additional clutter.”

It was a view backed by the councillors.

But the report also admits that any of the “permitted” flags would have automatically been given consent without planning permission.

Restaurant owner Mr Gurung, originally from Nepal but a resident of the UK for 17 years, used to run a restaurant at Blandford Camp where a regiment of Gurkhas are stationed, and still counts Gurkha soldiers among his regular customers.

“I’m very proud and I wanted to show the standard,” he said.

“I’m quite surprised.

“So many other places display it - in Blackpool they hang the Gurkha signals’ flag, but it’s been turned down here.

“I’m a bit disappointed.”

For almost 200 years Gurkhas, recruited from Nepal, have fought alongside British soldiers, winning a reputation for bravery and ferocity.

Their motto is “better to die than be a coward” and they still carry into battle their traditional weapon - an 18in long curved knife known as the kukri

From The Herald

Householders, schools, businesses and councils across Scotland will tomorrow be urged to show how proud they are to be British by flying the Union flag.

Andrew Rosindell, the Conservative MP for Romford in Essex, is hoping the UK Government backs his 10 Minute Rule Bill at Westminster to encourage as many people as possible to fly the Union flag and incorporate its widespread flying into UK law.

Mr Rosindell told The Herald: “There is nothing wrong with patriotism. I want to stop the BNP from hijacking the Union flag and establish it for everybody in the UK.

“I don’t want to see the narrow nationalism of a party like the SNP or the extremism of a party like the BNP.

“I want to encourage everyone to see that patriotism is a good thing. Countries across Scandinavia as well as America and France fly the national flag everywhere and we should do the same.”

I wondered if this chap has ever been to Scotland. It seems he fought a seat up in Glasgow in 1992 and lost miserably, he used a Union jack for his campaign….

However this particular Tory seems to be singing from the same song sheet as Prime Minisiter Gordon Brown.

The article goes on to say:

Last year, in his promotion of Britishness, Gordon Brown denounced what he described as a “ridiculous rule” that government buildings could only fly the Union flag on 18 official flag days a year such as on the birthdays of members of the royal family, Commonwealth Day on March 12, Coronation Day on June 2 and the Queen’s wedding day on November 20.

However, The Herald revealed that no such ban existed and, in fact, as long as permission is granted by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Queen - as technically she owns all government buildings - then the Union flag can be flown on any day from any official building.