Flying the flag - but for how much longer...?

I have no idea how frequently the flags fly here, but wonder whether there is some connection with the results of yesterday's general election. 

To the right is the Dorset flag, on a flagpole slightly higher than that of the neighbouring Union Jack.  What symbolism here?

The Union Jack dates back to 1606, when King James I ( "Jack" is an abbreviation of the Latin Jacobus, equivalent to James) ordered it to be created as a combination of the white Scottish saltire of St Andrew and the red English flag of St George.  The red saltire of St Patrick of Ireland was added in 1801.

Given the aspirations of the Scottish National Party to secede from the United Kingdom, will it also insist that the Scottish saltire be removed from the Union Flag?

The flag of Dorset has a more recent heritage, having been designed in 2008 to complement the County Council's coat of arms.  It would be difficult, nay impossible, to imagine a less inspiring creation.  

A little further explanation may help some visitors to this blip.

The crowns of England and Scotland were joined in 1603, when King James VI of Scotland was also crowned as King James I of England and Wales.  This union is referred to as Great Britain.

In 1801 Ireland was joined to Great Britain, to form the United Kingdom.

A saltire is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross.


Photographed on Wareham's Abbot's Quay