The Nation's Flag Flying Permanently From Parliament
Until early 2010 the national flag of the United Kingdom was only flown from the Houses of Parliament when parliament was actually sitting, and when the House rose it was taken down and the flagpole left bare. The Flag Institute with the Flags and Heraldry Committee campaigned to see the flag flown permanently, to signify the enduring sovereignty of parliament and to act as the foremost flag of the nation, day and night every day of the year. In early 2010 Black Rod agreed that this should be so and since then the flag has flown all the time. This change was marked by a lunchtime reception on Tuesday 22 March 2011 in the River Room, House of Lords, hosted by Alan West, Baron West of Spithead and Andrew Rosindell MP and organised by Charles Ashburner.
Read more about this topic: Flag Institute
Famous quotes containing the words nation, flag, flying, permanently and/or parliament:
“The English are crooked as a nation and honest as individuals. The contrary is true of the French, who are honest as a nation and crooked as individuals.”
—Edmond De Goncourt (1822–1896)
“By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood
And fired the shot heard round the world.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Awake! the land is scattered with light, and see,
Uncanopied sleep is flying from field and tree:”
—Robert Bridges (1844–1930)
“After you have exhausted what there is in business, politics, conviviality, and so on—have found that none of these finally satisfy, or permanently wear—what remains? Nature remains.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“He felt that it would be dull times in Dublin, when they should have no usurping government to abuse, no Saxon Parliament to upbraid, no English laws to ridicule, and no Established Church to curse.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)