Regarding the Colour of the New Zealand Flag...
(Alternative title: The ex-Empiree's New Clothes) #nzflag
Ironically the post WWII British Gov was only too happy (and in a big rush) to "grant" all "their" colonies "independence" cf. http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/the-uk-government-are-opening-thousands-of-secret-files-to-the-public...
To achieve this the British Gov even had a special mobile hit squad of diplomats to speed up the "transition" and the British exit. Did you ever notice that when the "sun set" on the British Empire, it set WITHOUT the British Marines EVER loosing a single battle? Figure that one out! How is that a retreat?
It all culminated around 1970 when NZ (and others) became victim of combined effect of the Secret UK/US "Atlantic Charter" AND the UK/US manipulation of the Goldstandard... the net effect was the virtual crash of the NZ economy...
Meantime my grandparents quietly had their Irish/Scottish rights of descent "squished" by over eager "ex-colonies" asserting their newly found "sovereignty".
[ The ex-colonies "officials" were (in most cases) re-engineering the British "empire's" original bureaucracy to suit the pro-independence family dynasties that emerged ]
The end of the "British Empire", meant the end of the common currency, the end of border-less global travel, the imposition of ID numbers/travel-documents, the end of free trade, the increase in the ACTUAL income tax rate, and economies becoming centric on super-cities.
[ Ironically the common currency with free internal trade & travel of the US, EU & China (and even Australia) is what powers these economies. ]
If the ex-British colonies were truly smart, then they would have evicted England from the Empire and but kept the Empire. We then would have been had a chance to stand up against the emerging economic super powers and been be in a much better position to augment (and develop) the more vulnerable smaller economies.
So... just maybe... the colour of the flag is not the issue? Maybe the flag's colour is just another cleverly engineered distraction. Maybe the real question is... Who engineered this distraction? (And why?)
