vlad the e-mailer wrote:Hi guys in udon vlad is back thanks to Lee thanks for helping out mate.
Well its 10 at night now ive just watched England smash the croats 1st time theve been beaten at home in 13yrs Theo Walcot scores a hat trick Rooney scores score 4-1 to England. The union Jack is flying again.

YOU MEAN THE CROSS OF ST, GEOERGE , which is the national flag of england !!!!!!

The current Union Flag dates from 1 January 1801 with the Act of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Ireland and the Kingdom of Great Britain to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. The new design added the red saltire cross of St Patrick's Flag for Ireland. This saltire is overlaid on the saltire of St Andrew, but still beneath the cross of St George. The Irish saltire is arranged counterchange with the saltire of St Andrew, so the white is always on the clockwise side of the red. The arrangement has introduced a requirement to display the flag "the right way up"; see specifications for flag use, below. The additional white stripe is added (as with the St George's cross) to prevent "colour next to colour", a heraldic imperative.[4]

This Saint Patrick's cross is problematic in several ways. Firstly, the symbol does not have much emotional resonance since its history is so thin and hard to find; some believe that it was essentially 'invented' for the purposes of inclusion in the Union Flag. One possible origin is from the arms of the Fitzgerald family (Dukes of Leinster) who were sent by Henry II of England to aid Anglo-Norman rule in Ireland and has rarely been used as an emblem of Ireland by the Irish; a harp, a Celtic cross, a shamrock, or latterly an Irish tricolour have been more common. However, the exact origin of the flag is unknown, with evidence of saltires being present on ancient Irish coins and maps. The St Patrick's saltire flag has been used in more recent times for St Patrick's Day in Northern Ireland and by both state and civil organisations wishing to avoid the sectarianism that may be implied by the use of either the tricolour or symbols of Unionism, including the recently formed Police Service of Northern

UK Flag Description:
Blue field with red cross of Saint George (patron saint of England), edged in white overlaid on the diagonal red cross of Saint Patrick (patron saint of Ireland), which is superimposed on the diagonal white cross of Saint Andrew (patron saint of Scotland); correctly known as the Union Flag, but generally called the Union Jack