It may not be the most pressing issue in the referendum, but it must nevertheless must be considered:
what should happen to the Union flag if Scotland votes for independence?
Scotland for its part already has a flag doing sterling service in the shape of the Saltire. The flags of Australia and New Zealand incorporate the Union flag in one corner, reflecting those countries' historic ties to the UK, but there would probably be little appetite for doing that to the Saltire.
What about the Union flag? Any redesign would be an overdue opportunity to represent Wales, which perhaps wins the prize for best flag in the British isles with its striking red dragon passant, but change is perhaps unlikely. Some have suggested that, with the Queen remaining Scotland's head of state, no change would be necessary. Altering it would also be a huge undertaking, given how well recognised it is worldwide. The multimillion-pound renaming of former utility companies would pale into insignificance by comparison with trying to rebrand the UK.
Should it ever happen, though, the debate on what should replace it might prove as contentious as the referendum that prompted it.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article