The UK has sovereignty over Northern Ireland, and so it is right to fly Union flag

By this view of the world, the Province is a neutral place between Ireland and Britain, with no associations with the latter given primacy over the former.

By this logic, Queen’s Counsels no longer need to swear the oath.

A name such as Royal Ulster Constabulary is unacceptable.

The army cannot help on the streets, even in a pandemic, as it does in the rest of the UK.

Republican MPs get special dispensation so as not to have to attend Parliament to get their large expense entitlement.

These and other ‘reforms’ happen as part of a calculating tactic to move Northern Ireland, in terms of its feel, into a space that is unrecognisable as part of the United Kingdom.

The Irish language will soon be used across society, and where it is not wanted, to increase that sense of difference.

While British money is not merely accepted, but demanded and received without gratitude, no matter how vast and generous, any associations with the nation state from which the funding flows – the UK– are targets for removal or dilution.

Thus the national (Union) flag is unacceptable and provocative unless flown in strictly controlled and limited circumstances.

The norms of the state are seen as assaults on ‘parity of esteem’. UK taxpayer money not infrequently helps fund legal actions taken against the state on such grounds.

Amidst all this, it is almost surprising that the Union flag ever flies here in an official capacity but it does, on certain buildings on designated days.

The number of such days has been increased by three. Such a small step in a sensible direction, away from grievance, seems almost unreal.

But it is real and, for as long as it lasts, welcome.

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