A cargo cult Britishness is practised in some parts of the north of Ireland of a sort which most actual British people find weird and a bit scary. Its outward manifestations are hanging the British flag and that of the six county state on every lamppost and tall structure that can be found. If it can be done where it is certain to irritate non cultists, so much the better. Near Catholic schools and churches are favoured sites.

This is accompanied by an ostentatious devotion to the English monarchy of a variety last seen in most of Europe when it was believed the king’s touch could cure scrofula. So, you will see posters of various Windsors in people’s windows, huge murals of the queen who died a couple of years ago. Belfast even has two streets named after Prince Andrew. In some areas the kerbstones are painted red, white and blue.

When asked to justify this, defenders of the cult give a lot of guff about culture, identity and community. The Marxist description of this is, and forgive the lapse into jargon, “bollocks”. It is about telling other citizens and visitors that they are not welcome and should feel unsafe. Originally the message was directed at Catholics, but now it is extended to Muslims, migrants and anyone with a dark skin.

The same impulses are behind this summer’s fashion for hanging the British and English flags from lampposts in England. The Times, a paper which in its own elegant way has spent several months migrant baiting, reports that an outfit called the Weoley Warriors, a name redolent of Combat 18, has raised almost £10 000 in Birmingham to hang flags in predominantly white areas. One of its supporters is quoted as saying “This country is a disgrace and has no backbone,” the resident, who asked not to be named, said. “This isn’t racism, it’s frustration at being pushed into a corner and silenced.”

It is not explained who has pushed the shy interviewee into a corner and what they have been prevented from saying. I am willing to bet a tenner it is rude things about brown people and asylum seekers in public.

Keir Starmer has decided to chase the Tommy Robinson vote, and both agree that lots of England flags stuck up on public property are a good idea. Starmer let it be known that “he was a strong supporter of putting up English flags because patriotism was always important.”

Not to be outdone, Robert Jenrick a Tory shadow cabinet minister who spent a day last week harassing migrants in the company of neo-Nazis, has also jumped on board this far right bandwagon. In the north of Ireland it is usually cultists in the orbit of the loyalist drug gangs who climb ladders and intimidate council staff, but Jenrick believes in leading from the front and doing the job himself.

This summer flag madness is not some harmless spontaneous patriotic outburst that happens when a national team is doing well at football. It is an extension of the sustained racist demonstrations that far right networks are organising outside hotels where asylum seekers are housed. It is reactionary, dangerous and feels like a prelude to street violence as groups of vigilantes start harassing anyone who’s “not from round here”. Jenrick and Robinson know this and that is the point.

Take it from someone who knows. The areas in which these flags are flown will turn into scary, racist ghettoes. English people, please don’t follow the example of the cargo cult Britishers.