I have often thought that there is a need for a liberal patriotism because why care for the country and want things to improve if you don’t care about the country? It will make anyone suspicious of your motives if you display a disdain for patriotism, so those who aren’t fully on your side will be put off without it. However, it has to be married with a respect for people liking representations of their country, like the flag. I don’t think it is convincing enough to others that true patriotism should be talking about having a society that looks after all; it needs to have some pride in the country and less sneering at people for ‘flag shagging’ or whatever.
I am not calling for flags at every school or anything like that, but less sneering at those that do would be better in convincing others that liberals or the left don’t have disdain for pride in the UK, and would make people less vulnerable to turning a blind eye to radical voices on the right presenting their bigoted ideas as just about showing pride in the country.
