Britain Faces Up to an Uneasy Relationship With Its Own Flags

In the center of Stevenage, a so-called “new town” north of London that grew in the mid-20th century, the St George’s Cross flies from the balconies of flats and outside pubs. Near a hotel housing asylum seekers, passers-by stop and stare at flags while children look upwards to point them out.

The scene is a microcosm of a sudden change that has come over Britain in recent weeks, visible on lamp-posts and highway bridges and painted on pedestrian crossings: A surge in public displays of national flags, often only seen at moments of sporting triumph or royal celebration.