Outside sporting occasions, the sudden emergence of flags is seldom a good sign. It’s usually an early warning sign of a power grab. It spells trouble.

Of all the Catholic martyrs, 85-year-old Polycarp heads my list of inspirational heroes of the faith. In refusing to burn a pinch of incense to the deity of the Roman Emperor, Polycarp said: “86 years have I served Jesus and He has done me no wrong. How can I then blaspheme my king and saviour?” He wasn’t asked to do much. Just sprinkle some incense as a recognition of the crazed emperor’s ego-mania spilling over into a divinity complex. But he refused.