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Week Around the Ists
Oops! It looks like somebody at Downing Street is about to get fired. At a trade agreement signing ceremony between Premier Wen Jiabao, U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and U.K. Trade Secretary Lord Mandelson, the Union Jack was flown upside down.
Non-Brits not familiar with the flag might not have noticed, but some of the white bars are thicker. Those thick ones are supposed to be facing up.
Said Mike Kearsley of the U.K.'s Flag Institute:
"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."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.
"If we had flown the Chinese flag upside down it could have been quite a diplomatic problem."
Most alarmingly, Kearsley pointed out, a Union Jack flown upside down actually means something. And not something positive.
Mr Kearsley said: "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."Forces from other nations wouldn't have noticed. It was like a sort of code."
Trying to tell us your real feelings about the trade agreement your signing, eh Mr. Brown?
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I believe it's backwards (the front-side is attached to the pole), not upside-down.
I'm British and I wouldn't know which was up was right; it's a pretty minor difference. Now, if the US or China's flag was upside down, it would be a pretty major error.
Saw Mandelson in John Lewis on Oxford Street at Xmas, he was as lizard-like as he appears in that picture.
I wouldn't have noticed what the exact problem was but it does look pretty awkward.
Get over it, it's not like anyone threw a shoe at....oh yeah...
Actually, I take that back: it could be backwards or upside down depending on how you turn it -- in all likelihood upside down. However, the Union Jack is rotationally symmetrical, so there!
can't be both (upside down and rotationally symmetrical)
Displaced vertically over 180 degrees, it is not symmetrical.
Displaced laterally over 180 degrees, it is not symmetrical.
Displaced rotationally over 180 degrees, it is symmetrical.
^^^ this is to say that the flag could either be turned vertically or laterally -- but not rotationally -- and appear as photographed. However, it is almost certainly turned vertically because the flag likely has a loop that fastens to the post, which means that it could not be attached were it rotated either laterally or rotationally.
Glad we straightened that out!
Buck's right! It's flying the flag backwards, not really upside down.
Three pedant points for Buck.