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Flag shaggers - CarlosCorbewrong - 08-11-2025
From The Dispatch (again)
Big Story: Who is responsible for all the flags in Northfield?
[b]Topline:[/b] In Northfield in recent weeks, Union Jack flags have been hoisted up on lamposts around the area — especially in Weoley Castle. Their appearance has elicited a range of responses from curiosity to concern to pride. But who’s responsible?
[b]What’s the worry?[/b] In one Northfield community WhatsApp group conversation, seen by The Dispatch, a member asks, “is it astroturfing by the far right?”, referring to the practice of political campaigning made to look like a grassroots social movement.
[b]‘Spoiling for a fight’ [/b]In the same group, Labour councillor. Jame Tennant, says “we know who it is” and reveals the council is keeping a list of locations where flags are, adding “there’s a couple of people spoiling for a fight for political reasons so taking it slow and steady so not giving them what they want.”
[b]A ‘phenomenon’:[/b] A Northfield resident, who did not want to be named, told The Dispatch the flags “don’t seem to display anything racist or nationalistic” but they have become a “phenomenon” in the area. One person who supports the new decorations is former Conservative councillor Simon Morall, who took to [u]Facebook[/u] on Sunday to declare “I approve this message!” accompanied by a video taken from a car driving past some of the flags.
[b]The people responsible:[/b] Yesterday, a man called Sean Doolan, along with 14 other men, claimed responsibility for the patriotic displays, taking to the Weoley Castle Community Facebook page to do so. Posting a photo of the group smiling with a giant Union Jack, Doolan wrote: “Over the past 6 weeks there has been a lot of speculation about who and why there have been flags going up around Weoley Castle!” The reason, he explained, is “simply, to bring pride to the area and pride to the people that live in it, nothing more nothing less.”
[b]‘Weoley Warriors’:[/b] Commenting under the image, a response from the Reform UK Birmingham Northfield account praises them and encourages them to “keep spreading the love and the community spirit!” A fundraiser for “flags, poles and cable ties” (shared on Facebook by Doolan) has also been launched on the site [u]gofundme.com[/u] by a group called the Weoley Warriors. They describe themselves as “a group of proud English men with a common goal to show Birmingham and the rest of the country of how proud we are of our history, freedoms and achievements.”
[b]Islamophobia:[/b] But others who have expressed Islamophobic views online have joined in the flag flying. A Facebook user called Lee Neal has a profile photo showing a man standing on a ladder in front of the Catholic Church of St John Fisher in West Heath, holding a Union Jack, as though preparing to attach it to a lamppost. The picture was posted to the group Good Old Britain with the text: “flags are going up around the streets of Birmingham, join in lets see your flags going up.” In response to a complimentary comment about the church, Neal wrote: “Christians and Catholics will have to fight together against the Muslim threat. The crusades have never been conquered.”
[b]Bottom line:[/b] The Dispatch understands that, regardless of what’s on them, Birmingham City Council’s policy is to remove flags fixed to council-owned lampposts. We understand that highways contractor Kier has been asked to take down the flags in Weoley Castle.
Comment
RE: Flag shaggers - tHEgLASSdOORS - 08-11-2025
Northfield. I can think of a lot of things I’d do to sharpen up community pride before hoisting any flag on a lamppost made the list.
RE: Flag shaggers - Derek Hardballs - 08-11-2025
They are all around West Brom and surrounding areas as well, it’s getting a bit weird out there.
RE: Flag shaggers - Pipkins - 08-11-2025
West Bromwich full of them
RE: Flag shaggers - man in the corner shop - 08-11-2025
It's Northfield, aye it.
RE: Flag shaggers - Mouse - 08-11-2025
They started around the time of the Women's Euro's, so I assumed it was due to that. Since then, they're everywhere.
RE: Flag shaggers - CarlosCorbewrong - 08-11-2025
We’re certainly only a few days away from someone proclaiming that Birmingham City Council have banned the national flag
RE: Flag shaggers - tHEgLASSdOORS - 08-11-2025
You can see on social media there’s a near panic that it’s mid August and in spite of what is clearly deeper strategic planning than ever before they haven’t lit the fuse yet. Pass the August bank holiday and it’ll be too cold and dark for a sustained display of patriotic disorder
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/scouts-camping-newbridge-wales-illegal-immigrants-b2805544.html
RE: Flag shaggers - Protheroe - 08-12-2025
Stars & Stripes hanging proudly from every porch on a 3 hour drive up Route 1 today.
RE: Flag shaggers - tHEgLASSdOORS - 08-12-2025
How do you know they weren’t just hanging?