It was brave of the chief executive of Commonwealth Games NI, Conal Heatley, to suggest that the Ulster banner – beloved of loyalists – should no longer be used to represent athletes from here.
And I mean “brave” in the way Sir Humphrey from Yes Minister would have described any move by Jim Hacker that the civil service didn’t like.
Heatley said there’d been a “calm, respectful conversion” about options for flags for Team NI at its recent AGM.
Alas, “calm and respectful” rarely comes into it when flaggery is discussed in this place.
Unionists seem to live in a perpetual state of alert for anything that challenges their fragile sense of Britishness.
Irish-language signs, Irish-medium schools, the protocol, extra trains to Dublin: it’s all part of a popish plot to sell them down the proverbial river.
Remember the fuss back in 2012 when Alliance backed a move to limit the flying of the Union flag at the City Hall to designated days, like in GB? Chaos, riots, attacks on political parties ensued.
Now, a not unreasonable suggestion that it would be good to be able to rally all Norn Iron athletes under one flag, acceptable to all, has fired up the usual suspects to smell treachery.
The Ulster Banner was the flag of the former government of Northern Ireland from 1953 until its bad behaviour led to it being abolished in 1973.
It has no official status, although some sports still use it because it’s never been replaced.
The report by FICT, the commission on Flags, Identity, Culture and Tradition, was published three years ago, aimed at addressing disputes over flags and bonfires.
It cost £800,000 but lies dustily on a shelf, probably near the un-implemented Bengoa report on health and the half dozen reports on under-achievement by Protestant boys.
Imagine some day that those unionists who believe in the future of Northern Ireland actually accepted the reality that its continuance long-term means it must have support from more than just their own community.
The team who spent five years working on the FICT study did mention the possibility that a new “civic flag” could be designed to be representative of the diversity of our society, including new arrivals. But the all-party group was unable to reach consensus.
And in the spirit of dreaming of the impossible, its authors, like Mr Heatley, have expressed the hope that political and civic leaders can come up with something, a kind of cloth version of the alternative Irish rugby anthem, Ireland’s Call.
In tribute to the likelihood of sane discussion and eventual agreement on this matter, I suggest a white flag with a navy crescent. A blue moon.
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When you’re in a hole, stop digging. This is advice that does not seem to have been given to Gregg Wallace who, after apparently spending his TV career channelling his inner Bernard Manning, has replied to those who’ve criticised his lewd behaviour.
Instead of saying something like maybe “sorry”, Wallace went on Instagram to say he’s worked with thousands of contestants over the years and has only had 13 complaints from “a handful of middle-class women of a certain age”.
I wonder if he’s been sharing PR advice with Prince Andrew?
The former greengrocer clearly thinks that working class women are more up for a bit of sexist banter. I mean, prancing around work naked, but for a strategically placed sock, is just a bit of a laugh, innit? And it’s only posh birds who can’t take a joke.
Every woman in the country is shaking her head. Because every woman has, at some stage in her work life, had to grit her teeth listening to some oul’ dinosaur at work, who thinks he’s (a) god’s gift and (b) absolutely hilarious. They’re never either.
Gregg has plenty of time on his hands right now, so he should have a look at his own birth certificate. He’s 60.