Thanks for the link, Guest 01 Sep 16 - 08:29 AM. The festival statement makes perfect sense to me and shows no indication of the 'PC gone mad' that they are being accused of.

In answer to your question, the flag of St George cannot, in my opinion, be used to parody or ridicule anyone. As we all know St George himself is a mysterious figure of indefinite but probably middle-eastern origin who is the patron saint of many other countries and things than England. See this Wiki entry to confirm. It is a symbol, nothing more, while blacking up can be open to interpretation as parody.

We have, as ever, to be sensible with these things and where we draw the line. That it is a traditional pastime is, in my opinion, a poor argument. Bare knuckle fighting and bear baiting were once traditional pastimes and someone know where to draw the line then. Surely we are just as sensible as our own ancestors?

D.