AS an Aussie who moved to the UK in 2000, I am constantly amazed by the lack of national pride shown, especially when it comes to flying the flag. On St George s Day nothing happens and the fact that the district council forgot is appalling. In Oz we h

AS an Aussie who moved to the UK in 2000, I am constantly amazed by the lack of national pride shown, especially when it comes to flying the flag. On St George's Day nothing happens and the fact that the district council "forgot" is appalling. In Oz we have a public holiday for Australia Day and everyone joins in, whether they were born there or not.

A sense of nationality (and not just during the football World Cup) is something that everyone should be proud of. My car sports an Australian flag and I smile whenever I see another Aussie flag.

You can't get any more mixed and multicultural than Australia and yet citizens from every nation band together under the Aussie flag and you see it flying everywhere - and not just on Australia Day.

It's about time the English did the same and stopped making excuses for not being patriotic.

HOLLY HINTON, an Aussie in Hayling Close, Godmanchester

* TRAVEL into Wales and Scotland and it won't be long before you are aware of their national pride, as it is in European countries, and so it should be for England.

While I agree with Angela Singer about our diversity, my father's family was Flemish and my mother's Danish. England has always been evolving by the addition of many cultures from Europe and Scandinavia over the centuries, as well as more recent Asian and West Indian influences which have sought to enrich this melting pot called England.

However, Angela, not everyone sings Gilbert and Sullivan. We should not deny the English the opportunity to celebrate their day on April 23 by flying the flag of our patron saint.

As a member of the Royal Society of St George, I applaud the increase in awareness on TV and radio this year, and certainly flags have been more in evidence this year.

Well done to St Neots council for raising the flag. Shame on Huntingdonshire District Council for not knowing what country it is in. Three cheers for England and St George.

MIKE Van de KERKHOVE, Kipling Place, Eaton Ford

* WE have been through the usual late April fuss, reflected well in articles and correspondence in The Hunts Post. There may be loud arguments about whether St George's Day ought to be marked and whether the flag of England should be flown. After 300 years of union, is it indeed unpatriotic to turn from Britain to England alone? I cannot say.

We can all turn, though, to more local pride. Two days after St George's Day is our own county day. Huntingdonshire Day, April 25, marks a place in our hearts for this special county. As spring looks to summer and the hedgerows bloom, we should be raising in our villages the Huntingdonshire flag.

RUPERT BARNES, Secretary, the Huntingdonshire Society, High Street, Warboys