FWIW, here in England, we recently had a ginormous St George's flag on the side of the old Fort Dunlop building in Birmingham, placed where everyone could see it from the M6 motorway. The reason for this rather un-English outburst of patriotic histrionics (histrionic patriotism?) was the (then) forthcoming soccer World Cup. Motorists flew flags (often more than one) from their cars; taxi drivers were told not to fly them, as it might upset Muslims (duh???), and Muslims of course said they were not offended, in fact many Muslims were flying them too.

I can't understand why people get so worked up about soccer, but they do, and I don't mind at all. But then nobody here tries to force soccer on everyone. You may not be aware, but we Brits have a constition. it's much bigger than your US Constitution, and most people don't know what it says. (It includes things like the monarch can't marry a Roman Caholic, and no-one married to a RC can become monarch. Nothng about an Englishman's home being his castle, and nothing about soccer, AFAIK.)

Dr Johnson said "patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." As a true-blue Briton himself, he was denigrating scoundrels, and not dissing patriots. Like every nation, we have a lot to be ashamed of. But there's quite a bit for us -- and you Americans -- to be proud of too. Let's try and remember which is which.

Steve