After our run-in with the Councillor Susanna Pressel, we at Watchman decided to take a stroll around Oxford and ask ordinary people what they think about the flags going up.

This being one of the wokest cities in Britain - a hotbed of vegan eco zealots and beardy academics in check shirts and purple cords pushing Brompton bikes - we didn't expect to find many Union Jack enthusiasts.

It didn't take long to find someone who believes the campaigners raising flags across our country are racists driven by what he called "right-wing demagoguery."

He told us he has no problem with British flags per se, but doesn't much like the kind of people who put them up without permission. He thinks they're motivated not by national or civic pride, but what he called  "fear of immigrants."

By contrast, a foreign student from China had no difficulty seeing the symbolism for what it is. He is clearly not triggered by unauthorised Union flags.

He pointed out that in China, the flag is everywhere, and people are openly nationalistic.

Funny how the so-called liberal Left in this country are so offended by patriotism, while a foreign student can see it for what it is....