I myself am a Southerner -- of the English variety, I must add.

I have objected in equally strong terms to flag-burning in this country, the United Kingdom; carried out as it was, by Islamic extremists at the time of the second Gulf War.

Whatever people's misgivings about that war -- and I myself share some of those concerns -- burning the Union Jack was an affront to our very democracy and the right to protest. It demonstrated a lack of respect for our nation by a minority of Muslims, towards a nation-state that is nominally their home. To prohibit flag-burning does not, in my view, undermine the right to protest; rather, the right to protest is enshrined in proper respect for the flag.

In US terms I would be considered a liberal, if not a left-liberal and yet it seems I am with the forces of conservatism on this issue -- I entirely understand why an amendment to prohibit flag-burning is sought.