Tea at Trianon: Councils in UK Move to Ban Union Jack Flag

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Monday, June 22, 2026

Councils in UK Move to Ban Union Jack Flag

From The Daily BS:

So here we are in modern Britain: the country is in the middle of a World Cup run, streets are draped in red-and-white St. George’s Cross flags, and instead of a bit of national pride, some local authorities appear to see… a public safety emergency.

According to reporting from LBC, residents in Bristol’s Knowle West area say Torrington Avenue has become something of a grassroots celebration zone during major football tournaments, with flags routinely hanging from lampposts and railings.

But not everyone is clapping along. The Green-led administration at Bristol City Council has moved to clamp down on the displays, with council leader Tony Dyer issuing guidance effectively banning flags from public infrastructure. (Read more.)