I put up a flagpole in my garden so I could welcome any visitors me might have by flying a relevant banner to make them feel welcome.

I’ve flown the Saltire, the State of Georgia flag, the Jersey pennant and the Rainbow flag to name but a few - I even had my arm twisted and was persuaded to fly the Y Ddraig Goch a couple of times.

You can purchase pretty much any banner you care to mention these days and when my son was younger he pulled together quite a collection and we encouraged him to fly a different one each week.

Mind you, there were a few eyebrows raised in the village when he flew the Iraq flag with the phrase ‘God is the greatest’ written large, in Arabic, for all to see.

At that point I did some checking and, when I discovered flying certain flags counts as an offence under the Terrorism Act of 2000, monitored his purchases more carefully.

Thankfully as he’s got older and discovered beer, not to mention securing a partner, his interest in flags has waned. Since then selecting which flag to fly has fallen to me and, until recently, my choices have proved uneventful.

But a couple of weeks ago a neighbour passing our front garden stopped to ask if I wasn’t concerned about the backlash my choice of flag might cause and wouldn’t I be worried about being labelled a racist?

What terrible flag was I flying – Daesh, Harkat Ul-Mujahideen, Al Shabaab?

No, it was a red-centred cross on a white background and I was flying it on April 23 to celebrate and commemorate our patron saint. The St George’s Cross can trace its history all the way back to the Middle Ages and became an integral part of the Union Flag in the early 17th Century.

So, since when has displaying England’s national flag become such a sin it leads people to fear flying it could lead to such a strong negative reaction.

According to my neighbour it is because the flag of St George is, or at least used to be, linked with far right wing extremists and some people still make the association. I’m not sure he’s right and, if anything, I recall such groups adopted the Union Flag – which incidentally was the flag I’d taken down the previous day to raise the St George.

Either way I thanked him for his concern but assured him I will continue to proudly display both flags at any time I see fit and hang the consequences.