I live in a cosy part of York. It’s safe, suburban, and, as Radiohead song goes, likes to have ‘no surprises’.
By Miles Salter
It’s populated by teachers, accountants, doctors, legal people – people who, one imagines, are intelligent and reasonable.
So, I was shocked to see, the other day, in a street close to me, a flag flying at half-mast from a lamp post.
It was the St. George’s Cross, which has become highly visible recently. The flag has become a visual symbol for English outrage. The trouble is, it’s not about English pride, it’s about English anger and disgust at the presence of immigrants in our country.
Egged on by vile leaders like Nigel Farage, the flag is now shorthand for racism and animosity to immigrants who arrive in the UK. The flag has lined streets near Birmingham and elsewhere. Social media, meanwhile, is full of people laughing at anti-immigrant jokes. This is not the humour of enlightened, thoughtful people. It’s ignorant, aggressive, and nasty.
I find the use of the flag sinister and unsettling, and I was most surprised to see it in my part of York. I thought people around here were better than that – more informed, kinder, more aware of England’s relative privilege and our longstanding reputation for tolerance.
But then, Yorkshire is, sadly, a home for British National Party supporters. A leaked list of BNP members in 2008 showed what a stronghold for nasty views Yorkshire is; 240 members resided in Leeds and another 109 were in the Bradford area.
The use of the flag is the thin end of thuggery. We start with flags but soon we start beating people up. This is the result of Farage’s rotten campaign. The UK, like Trump’s America, has the potential to lean to the right with disastrous consequences.
The issue of immigration is now considered to be a red-hot political issue. The general ill-feeling towards immigrants is that they take jobs and resources, but there are counter arguments to this. Immigrants help the NHS to run effectively and contribute economically to the nation. The Migration Advisory Committee has reported, for example, that ‘EEA migrants contribute much more to the health service and the provision of social care in financial resources and work than they consume in services.’
Where is Rock Against Racism when we need it? Cultural figures of all stripes (musicians, writers, artists, comedians, whatever) should stand up for a kinder perspective. The Rock Against Racism movement began in the late 1970s with free concerts. It took a stand for a more enlightened world.
Billy Bragg attended the gigs at the time and was stunned by the power of music to help create a better world. I went on Rock Against Racism’s website. ‘Channelling the power of music into a movement for change’ ran the strapline. Although the movement still seems active, I couldn’t see much relating to the summer of 2025. One photograph included a placard that said, ‘Silence is Violence’. I think that’s right; if you don’t speak up, you’re not challenging ugliness that will spread.
As flags flutter around the UK in gestures that show the worst of us, the deep irony is that most people who hoist the St George flag is that many of them have no idea where he came from. He hailed from Cappadocia, in modern day Türkiye. Not Leeds. Or Basildon. Or Birmingham.
We need Rock Against Racism to return, and quickly. We need to show the little Englanders that their opinion, charged with anger and nastiness, is not the only view, and that England remains a tolerant and kind country. We need cultural leaders to stand up against the latent thuggery that may erupt if left unchallenged. I do not want to see us become consumed by the same hideous scenes that have engulfed the USA recently. The country I live in (and am proud of) is in danger of becoming a deeply unpleasant place. We are so much better than that.
Miles Salter is a writer and musician based in York.
