The UK’s obsession with flags continued on 25 September, when a Question Time audience member asked if it’s ‘patriotic’ to hoist Union Jacks upside down. In response, 80’s folk singer Billy Bragg accused Reform deputy leader Richard Tice of displaying his pin upside down:
Billy Bragg points out to Reform UK ‘patriot’ Richard Tice that his flag’s upside down. 🇬🇧😂🤦🏽♂️ #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/QsIRdJggzQ
— Eddie Burfi (@EddieBurfi) September 25, 2025
Confusion from Richard Tice… Whoops…
This week’s Question Time featured this motley bunch:
Tomorrow, Question Time is in Bedworth
Joining Fiona on the panel are Lisa Nandy, Luke Evans, Munira Wilson, Billy Bragg and Richard Tice
9pm on the @BBCNews channel, @BBCiPlayer and @BBCSounds, or @BBCOne at 10:40pm
Apply now: https://t.co/3ivO2BXOaz #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/U0z9AVddFV
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) September 24, 2025
In the video above, Bragg says to Tice:
Richard, you know your badge is upside down?
Richard Tice responds:
It’s not.
He avoids looking down at his Union Jack pin, obviously not wanting to seem uncertain. Bragg insists it is, though, with Tice shaking his head and repeating:
It’s not.
Bragg explains that ‘the white stripe’s on the top’ resulting in big laughs from the audience. We don’t get to the bottom of it, however, as host Fiona Bruce moves things along.
At the end of the day, it may not matter either way, with the original poster noting the bigger issues at play:
For some people, wearing a badge (upside down or not) or waving a flag is patriotism. For others it’s helping neighbours with the shopping, or giving them a lift to a Dr’s appointment, etc.
For Reform? It’s going abroad to beg for foreign interference in our politics. #bbcqt https://t.co/21MMDwoaI5
— Eddie Burfi (@EddieBurfi) September 25, 2025
In fairness to people who can’t get their flags right, the Union Jack is more difficult to clock at a glance than the Stars and Stripes; it’s also not reversible like the Saltire. Another flag the right struggle with is the Reich and National flag, with modern fascists frequently struggling to reproduce history’s most hateful symbol:
There is some debate as to whether Tice’s flag was upside down or if it was just an odd-looking pin. We’re sure Tice appreciates the conspiratorial nature of this discussion, anyway, given his refusal to criticise Donald Trump linking paracetamol to autism:
Tylenol is a US brand of paracetamol, nobody in the UK calls it that.
Tice is giving himself away here: it’s obvious that he’s just regurgitating Trump and MAGA lies.
Who’s paying you to say this @TiceRichard? #MoneyLaundering #Reform pic.twitter.com/n977XTXFGS
— Socialist Opera Singer (@OperaSocialist) September 25, 2025
Questions
Another interesting exchange on Question Time was this from Lisa Nandy:
“If there were simple solutions, they would have been done by now”
Labour’s Lisa Nandy says there are “big benefits” to digital ID, including reducing the “illegal economy” by ensuring people can “prove their right to be here” #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/8xzHqyrl6b
— BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) September 25, 2025
‘Right to be here’ is an interesting angle, as we’re yet to see anyone in the Starmer cabinet justify their right to be in government.
Nandy used the opportunity to talk about her pride in the flag:
Tomorrow I’ll be flying the flag for our @RedRosesRugby at Twickenham.
Here’s what the flag means to me – and why I’m so proud to fly it. pic.twitter.com/0ZSa93y5fn
— Lisa Nandy MP (@lisanandy) September 26, 2025
This follows that famous moment in British politics when Keir Starmer assured the nation he was “very encouraging of flags”:
NEW: Keir Starmer has said he hangs the English flag in his home and ‘always sits in front of a Union Jack’
He told the BBC: ‘I’m very encouraging of flags. I think they’re patriotic and a great symbol of our nation.’ pic.twitter.com/Q7MVltRqwr
— The National (@ScotNational) September 1, 2025
What a way with words this man has.
Does it matter?
At the end of the day, there’s not much point trying to shame the flag shaggers. When Labour and the Liberal Democrats try to ‘reclaim’ the flag, they’re failing to understand you can’t reverse engineer progressive patriotism; you have to actually instil values in the state before claiming our national symbols embody them.
That aside, Richard Tice needs to turn his flag around or get a less confusing pin or something – the man’s embarrassing all of us – rule Britannia, etc.
Featured image via BBC Question Time
