A post by Pat
I can see why it would go largely unnoticed. Can you tell which of these pics has the Union Jack upside down?
Flag A
Flag B
Flag A is upside down in the hands of Lord Mandelson at the signing of a trade agreement with China.
Flag mistake at UK-China ceremony
The government has been criticised for displaying the Union flag upside down at the signing of a trade agreement.
A plastic flag was flown incorrectly for a ceremony involving Gordon Brown, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao and Trade Secretary Lord Mandelson.
The Flag Institute said it was “concerned” about the mistake and Tory MP Andrew Rosindell called it “an unbelievable flaw in protocol”.
There is a specific way of hanging it, with the thick white parts of the diagonal cross nearest the flagpole being placed above the thinner white parts.
Mike Kearsley, director general of the Flag Institute, said: “My first reaction is ‘here we go again’.
“One part of me is concerned that we don’t recognise and understand our own flag but another part of me is amused that it’s a terribly British thing to do. [Not knowing which end is up? —Pat]
Mr. Kingsley offers this curious reason for the snafu:
“You would think people in Downing Street would recognise it because they see the flag so often. Many places in government these days have people working from overseas and maybe they don’t understand.
But, has he considered this:
“Having the flag upside down historically was a sign of distress. You might have it put it up on a fort to warn those in the know – other British forces – that there was trouble from the enemy.
Maybe this was Lord Mandelson’s restrained diplomatic substitute for the newly popular shoe toss.
That’s what they get for having a flag that has no obvious “this side up”! One more reason to be glad I’m an American. Imagine trying to tell the world you’re in distress using a Union Jack!?
Most ironic, is the “no doubt” of that flag being…..made in China!
Actually, it isn’t upside down. It’s backwards. If you turn the Union Jack upside down, it’s still correct. They just put the wrong side to the pole (stick), similar to flying the Stars and Stripes with the star field away from the pole.
I’ll crawl back into my nerdy little hole now.
Note that Lord Mandelson clearly looked at the staff for the flag and help the obviously tipped part up. It is clearly an error in the manufacture, although one might hope that such an error would be noticed. It does the question of “was it made in China?” more interesting.