United Kingdom

The UK's flag was originally made for the Royal Navy, but later just became the national flag through popular use. It's the same with the National Anthem of the UK, it's just been adopted from tradition and treated as such.

I find this interesting as a lot of people in regards to Northern Ireland push a narrative that the flag is unofficial. It was designed and officially adopted for the Northern Ireland Parliament by the Ulster King of Arms, Sir Nevile Wilkinson, from the Coat of Arms, for the then Parliament of Northern Ireland which was formed in 1921 and dissolved in 1972. In this capacity, it was the official flag purely of the government.

HOWEVER, the Minister of Home Affairs permitted anyone to use it as a symbol just representing Northern Ireland itself. It became used in sport and is still used today.

In my opinion, this gives the Northern Ireland Ulster Banners as much legitimacy as the Union flag. The only people who object to the Ulster Banner being used generally object to Northern Ireland having a distinctive flag at all because they object to the existence of Northern Ireland.

Anyway thank you for reading my tangent.

God save The King.

Discarded?

cross-posted from: https://feddit.online/c/uk@feddit.online/p/1833721/under-16s-to-be-banned-from-buying-energy-drinks

An Israeli property roadshow is still advertising homes in illegal West Bank settlements to prospective buyers in the UK – even after London mayor Sadiq Khan raised the matter with the Metropolitan police, the Home Office and the Foreign Office.

Organisers of the ‘Great Israeli Real Estate Event’ apologised last month after it was revealed that brochures handed out at the event in London promoted properties on illegal settlements.

The event’s organisers claimed West Bank settlements had been included “by mistake”. But organisers have since contacted mailing list subscribers with an email promoting the sale of more West Bank homes on behalf of Israeli real estate company Harey Zahav.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.online/c/uk@feddit.online/p/1832833/uk-nationalises-british-steel-to-protect-domestic-steelmaking

Starting in 2026 the UK no longer allows British Citizens to get an ETA to enter the UK on an American Passport. They must use their British Passport to enter the UK.

The problem I'm seeing that I can't get a straight answer to is by US law any US citizen must enter and leave the US on a US Passport. So with that being the case how is a dual citizen with two passports meant to fly from the US to the UK?

cross-posted from: https://feddit.online/c/uk@feddit.online/p/1830621/british-public-more-likely-to-prefer-count-binface-wins-clacton-by-election-than-nigel

• In a hypothetical forced choice head-to-head, 1 in 3 British adults (33%) would prefer Count Binface to win the Clacton by-election, giving him a 12ppt lead over Farage (21%). 32% say neither. 13% don’t know;
• Nearly 3 in 4 (74%) state that the parliamentary standards commissioner should be investigating whether the Reform UK leader broke parliamentary rules;
• 73% say investigation should continue even if Farage wins the by-election.

Source: Ipsos.

The work and pensions secretary has paved the way for another fight with MPs over Britain’s welfare bill, saying Labour must stop “simply writing a cheque” for benefits claimants and instead provide more job support.

Meanwhile, in late May, the first phase of the Milburn review called for a “whole system reset” involving welfare, schools, and employers to bring down a massive increase in the number of young people out of work or education after the figure topped one million.

Mr Milburn last week insisted that incoming prime minister Andy Burnham is up for overhauling the welfare system and knows it is “absolutely necessary”.

So what I'm hearing is "everybody hates the current system because they are not getting the support they need", and somehow the conclusion is "we should give them less financial support". If this is truly the stance (they are being deliberately vague about what this reform will actually entail) then it is a truly braindead take.

Cutting PIP and putting conditions on support would make the system even more soul destroying than it is.

If you want people back in work, give them good healthcare and a solid safety net. As for people who can't work, leave them to live a comfortable life and stop trying to make them destitute.

The home secretary has impressed many with her sure footed handling of the immigration crisis

You mean her rampant xenophobia? She's one of the most evil people in Labour's leadership.

I'm not sure if I'm more glad she's off immigration, or more afraid about what she'll do to the economy.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/10139948

The EU and UK blamed Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) for a cyberattack that threatened to cut heating to half a million people in Poland last winter.

...

Last December’s attack on Poland’s energy grid came “very close” to causing a “blackout,” a senior minister said at the time. It was described as “reckless” by British authorities on Monday, adding it was “another example of the Russian state’s irresponsible attempts to sow chaos across Europe.”

...

Separately, Poland’s domestic intelligence service warned in May that cyber intrusions targeting water treatment facilities in the country have posed “a direct risk” to the continuity of water supply.

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According to the European Union, the broader range of activities have included “infiltration of governmental networks and sabotage of critical infrastructure” targeting “France, Germany, Poland, Cyprus, the Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia, Romania and Finland.”

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British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the sanctions are intended to disrupt the cybercriminal ecosystem supporting Moscow's intelligence services.

“These sanctions strike at the core of the cybercriminal networks propping up the Russian state's aggression, and the U.K. and EU are sending a clear message that Russia cannot hide behind its use of these proxy groups,” Cooper said.

The sanctions package also targets 10 individuals associated with the pro-Kremlin military blog Rybar, including senior executives and content creators. Britain accused the outlet of spreading disinformation about Ukraine and interfering in elections in Moldova and Armenia.

...

Archived

cross-posted from: https://feddit.online/c/uk@feddit.online/p/1830143/uk-plans-midnight-social-media-curfew-for-16-and-17-year-olds

cross-posted from: https://feddit.online/c/uk@feddit.online/p/1829095/2026-uk-heatwave-estimated-to-have-killed-more-than-2700-people

Wikipedia.