French Embassy Dublin, July 2008
Link to blogpost
I am seriously pissed off with the upside down flying of the EU flag. I have drawn attention to this many times both on this blog and on my website. Just to illustrate the scale of the offence I have pulled all those previous observations together into this post with links to where I raised matters originally.
There is one new one, spotted by Vivion Mulcahy, on the European Parliament's Facebook page today. This is a second strike for the Parliament, as you will see below. And remember, these are only the occasions I (or Vivion) happened to have noticed over the last while. God knows how many more there are out there, both noticed and un-noticed by others. On one occasion I had to convince an EU ambassador that it was actually possible to fly the flag upside down. And believe you me that took a lot of convincing.
The whole thing is a bit ironic given the extent to which the EU Commission insists on very precise signage on all EU-funded projects throughout the Union.
You can click on most images for a larger version.
Hungarian Embassy Dublin, September 2008
Link to blogpost
European Parliament, carried in online edition of
Irish Independent, 28 May 2013
Link to blogpost
European Parliament, Luxembourg Square, Brussels
on Euro Parliament Facebook page, 23 March 2015,
spotted by Vivion Mulcahy
Link to EU Facebook post
Is there really no end to this. Now I see the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs is at it on his Twitter wallpaper. This is clearly cut from the European Parliament flags shown above. So what we have here is a proofreader problem.
Cut out strip shown in context
In case you've any lingering doubts, the image above shows the cut out strip in context, where it is quite clear that it is upside down.
Killary Fjord, Galway-Mayo border, June 2015
Photo: Vivion Mulcahy
Newgrange, June 2015
Photo: Vivion Mulcahy
I am in danger of being outstripped by my enthusiastic apprentice Vivion who has spotted two more upside downers (above) in the course of his June visit.
Stars of David instead of the Pentangle
Perhaps if the symbols had been Stars of David, which are vertically as well as horizontally symmetric, the problem would not have arisen.
No doubt then someone would end up hanging the flag sideways. You just can't win.
Geez, if such a silly thing pisses you off then what would a cheating wife do to you? Remember, EU is just a club, not even a nation.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous @ 13:46
ReplyDeleteI didn't say I was losing sleep over it. But I hate sloppiness. And EU is more than just a club if you look more carefully at it.