Not all freedoms are of equal value

VEXILLOMANIA refers to an obsession with flags. It’s tribalism: which side I'm on.

- Jamie Driscoll

Tribalism in football is mostly good natured banter. I've been to European and international games where it built bridges with foreign fans. That's what responsible adults do.

Tribalism works in sport. But it is dangerous in governments. Tribalism says my side is good, your side is bad, and evidence is irrelevant. If we lose it’s the ref’s fault. If we win it's my personal achievement. Left unchecked it leads to wars because their religion is different from ours.

The current wave of vexillomania is labelled right-wing. But what is right-wing? I worked with a Tory councillor whose concern about child poverty was sincere. He hadn't connected the dots the same as me. He hadn't concluded that Thatcherite economic policies led to wealth inequality, increased utility bills, spiralling housing costs and a wave of insecure employment. He was economically right-wing but, in opposing poverty, supported a left-wing economic value.

Thing is, he’s not unusual. As mayor I met with a centre-right think tank researcher who agreed with me on decentralisation and devolution. He was all for free market economics, but genuinely anti-racist. And is decentralisation left-wing or right-wing?