THERE is a large housing estate adjacent to a scenic area of Belfast which has regularly featured in best kept civic awards, and where the residents plainly take great pride in the maintenance of their properties.

It does not need to be identified, but the exteriors of practically all the dwellings are pristine, gardens are perfectly manicured with an array of colourful flower beds, and the kind of problems with graffiti and litter witnessed elsewhere in the city are practically unknown.

What was striking while driving past last week was the sight of a long row of lamp posts flying tattered union flags, one of which had disintegrated and blown into an adjoining tree but had still been left untouched for months.

The juxtaposition between the bedraggled emblems and the immaculate homes was depressing, but clearly, regardless of their private thoughts about the matter, the people who live there are unable or unwilling to intervene.

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While it must be acknowledged that both traditions are regularly guilty of the aggressive and unacceptable use of flags, significant numbers of loyalists appear to be convinced that a point of principle is involved in indefinitely........

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