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VOCABULARY
1. gather pace (v phr)
2. Union Flag/Jack, St George’s Flag (n phr)
3. fly the flag (v phr)
4. tensions are running high (v phr)
5. cash-strapped (adj)
Episode 11 transcript
Intro
Hello and welcome to Learn English with the News. This week, we’re talking about the thousands of flags that have suddenly appeared all around England and some other parts of the UK as well. Why have they appeared, and why are some people offended?
It’s called Operation Raise the Colours.
Before we start, don’t forget that the transcript is available for free on my website, so you can read all the words I’m saying, follow along and maybe even practise your pronunciation by copying me.
Introducing the vocabulary
As always, we’ll start with the vocabulary.
Vocabulary item one, this week, is a verb phrase that means that something is starting to happen more quickly and with more energy. This phrase is gather pace. Gather pace.
Number two is actually two nouns… two noun phrases.
The first one is Union Flag, and this is the national flag of the United Kingdom, which is red, white, and blue. And it’s also called the Union Jack, and I’ll go into detail about that at the end.
And what do we call the flag of England? Because we have the British or the UK flag, but we also have an English flag. The English flag is called the St George’s Flag or the Flag of St George, and it’s a white flag with a red cross running horizontally and vertically, and it represents England.
Number three is a phrase you use when you are displaying or showing a flag. And this is fly the flag. Fly the flag.
Now, the literal meaning of this is quite simple to understand, but it also has a figurative meaning, which we’ll look at later, so stay tuned for that.
Number four is a verb phrase that you use when people are feeling very stressed, angry or upset often because of disagreement or conflict. And the phrase is tensions are running high. Tensions are running high.
And finally, number five, we have an adjective to describe having very little money, especially when you’re talking about groups or institutions. You can describe them as cash-strapped. Cash-strapped, and it’s an adjective.
After the news story, we’ll look in more detail at all this vocabulary and also, importantly, the pronunciation for all these words and phrases.
So let’s go on to the news story using this vocabulary.
The news story
Operation Raise the Colours. Can we fly the flag again?
It started in Birmingham and is spreading around the country. A new campaign is gathering pace, Operation Raise the Colours. Colours here is an old term for flag.
It’s all about encouraging people to fly the Union Flag, also called the Union Jack, and the St George’s Flag, not just during football tournaments or royal events but all year round.
Why now? Well, for years, many Brits have felt uneasy – or worried – about showing patriotism.
Because of colonial history and fears of racism or exclusion, flying the flag became something people avoided. But organisers of this movement say it’s time to reclaim those symbols.
Local leaders say flying the flag can help build unity and pride, especially in places that feel forgotten – in other words, poorer areas.
One councillor said it’s about bringing people together and showing that patriotism doesn’t have to be political or divisive… or racist.
Brummies – that’s people from Birmingham – Brummies are leading the way. Some schools and community centres are flying the flag already. The hope is that more councils will join in, putting flags on public buildings and encouraging residents to do the same.
Of course, not everyone agrees. Some worry it could stir up old divisions, when tensions between communities already running high.
And cash-strapped councils complain that they don’t have enough money to go around removing the flags and that it’s dangerous.
Birmingham City Council said, “People who attach unauthorised items to lampposts could be putting their lives and those of motorists and pedestrians at risk.”
Many councils are rushing to take down the flags, which has led to anger from the community. “They don’t rush to take down Palestinian flags,” said one resident.
Supporters say the flag campaign is a reaction to years of silence around national identity. They want to show that you can be proud of your country whilst still acknowledging its past.
So whether it’s the Union Jack or the St George’s Flag, Operation Raise the Colours is asking, can we fly the flag again and feel good about it?
The vocabulary in depth
Right, vocabulary deep dive, here we come!
So the first piece of vocabulary today was gather pace. I’ll repeat that so you can follow the pronunciation. Gather pace. And it’s a verb phrase and it means to start happening more quickly or with increasing energy or intensity.
If you drive a car down a hill, it gathers pace naturally – unless you use the brake – because gravity is pulling it down. So a car in that case gathers pace. In this case, the movement to fly the flag is gathering pace.
And this phrase is often used to describe movements, campaigns or events that begin slowly, but then accelerate.
Pace here means speed, so it indicates that something is happening quickly. To gather pace is to gather speed.
Pace is spelt P-A-C-E and pronounced with a diphthong – /eɪ/ – pace.
Here’s an example sentence: Operation Raise the Colours began quietly, but it’s now gathering pace across the country.
What do you think the opposite is? Well, it’s lose momentum or slow down. Lose momentum or slow down.
Is there a movement that’s gathering pace in your country? I wonder what it is. I’m sure there is because there’s lots of agitation everywhere at the moment, isn’t there?
Right, vocabulary item two, which is actually those two noun phrases, I think is really interesting. So we’re going to talk about the flags of our country. So Union Flag. Now this is the name for the British or the UK flag. And it’s the proper name for it. Union Flag. Union as in a combination of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. That is the union in the name.
Now I would call this the Union Jack, J-A-C-K, but lots of people think that’s wrong because the Union Jack used to be the name of the flag only when it was flown at sea on ships.
However, I think we have to move with the times. People now use Union Jack for the flag, even on land, in any context, and I use it like that. So I call my flag the Union Jack. But you can call it the Union Flag.
And it combines three crosses, St George for England, St Andrew for Scotland and St Patrick for Ireland.
Now, why does it include the Irish flag? Ireland is not part of the UK, only Northern Ireland. Well, the flag was finalised in 1801 when Ireland joined the UK. After most of Ireland became independent, the St Patrick’s Cross came to represent Northern Ireland.
Another question is why Wales isn’t included. Do you know why? Wales isn’t included in the flag itself – although it does represent Wales as well – because when the flag was created, Wales was considered just part of England. Very rude, isn’t it? Poor Wales.
And Wales has an amazing flag with a beautiful dragon on. I love it. I think it’s the best flag.
And the flag of England – do you remember the name for that? St George’s Flag or the Flag of St George is a white flag with a bold red cross.
So who is St George? St George represents England. He’s the English patron saint. He’s also the patron saint of other countries or regions, I know. And he’s been the country’s patron saint since the Middle Ages.
And speaking of dragons, he fought with dragons.
Vocabulary item three was fly the flag, which is a verb phrase. To fly the flag.
Now, literally, this means to display a flag – to have it waving in the wind, flying in the wind. So for example: During the King’s birthday celebrations, the council flew the Union Jack from every public building.
But it also has a figurative meaning, which doesn’t necessarily have to involve a physical flag at all, and it means that you show support or pride for a country group or cause. So it just means you show support, you fly the flag for… whoever. You support them. For example: She flew the flag for British literature by promoting local authors on her podcast. She flew the flag for her country, meaning she supported it.
Raise the flag, which we also had in this news lesson, is the act of lifting the flag up. And fly the flag is keeping it on display. So that’s the difference between those two phrases.
Tensions are running high is number four. This is a verb phrase and it expresses when emotions like anger, stress or frustration – so negative emotions – are strong and rising, often because of conflict pressure or disagreement.
It’s used to describe situations where people are upset and things could easily escalate, which means get worse.
Tensions are running very high in the UK at the moment, it’s true. Maybe where you are as well. Let me know. And people, including our politicians, genuinely feel there might be a revolution, or at least mass riots, which means violent disturbances involving many people.
They really are scared of this, and I think with some reason. People haven’t had a lot of money for a long time, and there is mass immigration, which puts pressure on societies, but equally we want to avoid racism, and public services are stretched. We obviously recently had Covid like everywhere else. So there is a lot of pressure.
Now what’s the opposite of tensions are running high? I like to give you the opposite so that you can use these phrases in a flexible way.
Tensions are running high, and the opposite of that are… is tensions are low. You don’t say running low. Tensions are low.
Or, if the situation has improved – let’s hope it does – you can say tensions have eased. Tensions have eased. E-A-S-E-D. Tensions have eased.
And do you remember the adjective for when you have very little money, and especially when you’re talking about an institution or company that has very little money?
Cash-strapped. Cash-strapped. Quite hard to say because you’ve got the sh-s sound in the middle! So this is when you don’t have enough funds – money – to cover basic needs or expenses. And it’s often used to describe organisations or places struggling financially, like cash-strapped councils, schools or families.
Cash here means money, of course, not just physical money, any money. And strapped, S-T-R-A-P-P-E-D means restricted. So if you are cash-strapped, your money is restricted. Cash-strapped.
The term cash-strapped is quite formal though, and used often in news articles and mainly for institutions. So an individual wouldn’t say I’m cash strapped, really. It sounds a bit odd.
What you are more likely to say as an individual talking to your friends or something is I’m strapped for cash. I’m strapped for cash, and that’s a lovely expression. That’s very, very colloquial. I have very little money. I’m strapped for cash.
An even more common one is I’m broke. Now, this means I have no money, but you probably have a little bit, but you don’t have much.
Now, it’s not broken. It’s not a mistake, and it should be broken. It’s broke. I’m broke. I don’t have much money, or I have no money.
I’m broke. I can’t come to the pub!
Outro
I wonder what you think of this story. It would be interesting to know. Let me know if you want in the comments and if there’s anything similar happening in your country.
I think in Britain, in the UK, we have been especially shy of showing patriotism. Other countries have less of a problem with this. But yeah, let me know what you think.
And see you again next week.
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