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The Fête of Britain

The Flags Problem: Giving Up Means Giving In

The Union Jill was first made by women in the anti-roads protest movement
Photo: Fête of Britain

Football brings us together – but that shared sense of a diverse and definitive collective identity needs to be built beyond the World Cup, Alanna Byrne

The summer is underway and the first whistle on the 2026 World Cup has been blown. The beautiful game is back.

By the time you’re reading this, the group stages will be coming to an end, player performances will have been dissected, bets made, and we’ll be down to our last nerve over England’s latest attempt to bring football home.

With the World Cup comes another certainty: we’re in for a summer drowning in flags.

previous article Edition 87 – July 2026 next article

St George and the Saltire: Flagging Up the Differences

With the 2026 World Cup underway, Adrian Goldberg explores how political notions of English and Scottish nationalism are entwined with love of the beautiful game
Adrian Goldberg

Notes on Now – Platner’s Past

Graham Platner has won the Democratic primary to run for the US Senate in Maine. When he started, he said: “I did four infantry tours in the Marine Corps and the Army. I’m not afraid to name an enemy. And the enemy is the oligarchy.”
Anthony Barnett