London 2012 Olympics: Team GB success sparks burst of pride in Union flag

Hoy, who competes in the Commonwealth games for Scotland, wrapped himself in the Union flag after his successes in the Velodrome, as did Andy Murray, another Scot, after his singles victory on Wimbledon?s Centre Court against Roger Federer in the gold-medal match. Jones carried both the Welsh Red Dragon and the Union flag on her lap of honour in the ExCel Arena.

The survey may give nationalist politicians pause for thought. Since April, there has been a striking rise both in Scotland (up eight per cent) and Wales (up 15 per cent) in feelings of ?pride and patriotism" in the Union flag.

Some 83 per cent of people questioned in Wales say they associated these qualities with the flag - even more than the 80 per cent who say they did so in England, unchanged since before the Olympics. The corresponding figure in Scotland is now 64 per cent.

Last week Gordon Brown said the Games used the example of the Olympics to reinforce a pro-Union message in a speech in Edinburgh.

Alex Salmond, Scotland?s First Minister and Scottish National Party (SNP) leader, has said he wants to hold a referendum north of the border on independence in 2014.

Mr Brown said: ?When we pull and share resources for the common good, it?s often the case that the benefit is far greater than would have occurred if we had just summed up and added up the parts.

?The Olympics is pretty clear to us that by the pooling of resources in, say, cycling, we managed to do what, if you just divided the money and put a tenth to Scotland and a tenth to Yorkshire and so on, you could not have achieved.?

By contrast Pete Wishart, the SNP MP and culture spokesman, has said: "People are thoroughly tired and annoyed with unionist politicians trying to politicise this event [the Olympics]. It?s starting to really appall the Scottish people and we?ll start to see a reaction to it.

Sunder Katwala, director of British Future, said: ?Team GB has become perhaps our most inclusive symbol of the country we?re proud of today.

?That isn?t just because of the record-breaking medal haul. It is also because Britain recognised itself in how Team GB that brought us all together, helping to make the Union flag feel more inclusive to some who might have felt unsure about it before.

?Throughout these London Games, we saw how British pride contains strong national and regional identities, as Scotland, Wales and Yorkshire celebrated the achievements of local Olympians, with our shared pride in the Union flag whether it was flying to celebrate the Gold medals of Jessica Ennis or Mo Farah, Andrew Murray or Ben Ainslie.

?Crowds of families wearing Union Jack face-paint and the creative use of the flag in the closing ceremony staging should now end the idea that a handful of fringe extreme voices should somehow stop the rest of us being proud of a great, iconic flag".

Source: http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/568387/s/228401bd/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Csport0Colympics0Cnews0C94850A310CLondon0E20A120EOlympics0ETeam0EGB0Esuccess0Esparks0Eburst0Eof0Epride0Ein0EUnion0Eflag0Bhtml/story01.htm

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