The Union Flag, or Union Jack as it's also officially recognised (I have no problem with what we call it), has a right and wrong way to be displayed, and it's very simple.

With a flat image, there should always be a thicker white diagonal pointing to the top left:

Union Flag

If the flag is attached to a pole, the thicker white diagonal should point to the top of the flagpole.

It's that simple.

I've seen a Union Flag painted onto an aeroplane back to front, but the worst and probably most embarrassing is our sporting heroes. To see the winner of a race proudly walking around with the flag held behind them should be fantastic for a patriotic person like me, however it's usually overshadowed when you see they have it upside down.

I recently saw a team photo where the whole squad were stood in front of the flag, and the people at the back had the flag wrong. There were at least ten in the team, plus two flag holders, the photographer and crowds all around and no-one had the idea to put it the right way around.

Have you ever seen a posed photo where there was a US Stars and Stripes held upside down? In the heat and excitement of a win maybe it could be forgiven, but a posed photo to press and media from around the world? Unforgivable! Grrrrrrrrr!

Another failure is with the manufacture of the flag itself. I find this less irritating but still worthy of a mention. The ends of the red diagonal lines should slice off with a single smooth cut - rather than being chopped off to an arrow head point.

I found this website that has a lot more detail:

www.jdawiseman.com/papers/union-jack/union-jack.html