Comments on: Choose your preferred Fern flag

By: John Ansell

John Ansell — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:58:07 +0000

I had a rough ‘look’ in mind, but couldn’t draw to save myself.

Kenneth took that idea and refined it, playing with angles, leaves etc. until we were both happy.

There’s more to it than you think – as you can see by the variety of fern designs around.

By: Leonidas

Leonidas — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:50:15 +0000

How does it take two people to design a plant leaf?

By: malcolm

malcolm — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 08:01:53 +0000

RRM you bloody commie, you put the southern cross on crooked. Otherwise quite nice.

By: RRM

RRM — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 05:03:51 +0000

Unlike a lot of Pakeha commenting here and on other forums, I think some Maori designs could be used to good effect IF we were to change the flag – I find them quite beautiful, although no doubt some would say this is due to my “liberal guilt” or some such rubbish.

(While there is no need to specifically reference one NZ culture or another, I personally think the traditional red/white/black repeating Maori patterns are quite stunning and could contribute to a much cooler NZ flag. )

Here are a couple of very poor attempts from yours truly…

http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/af230/RRM22/nz-flag-whitefernrrmdesign.jpg

or with a southern cross:
http://i1010.photobucket.com/albums/af230/RRM22/nz-flag-whitefernrrmdesignwithcross.jpg

By: anatinus

anatinus — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 04:56:14 +0000

Maybe the poll should also include our current flag. That way we could see what percentage still likes the old one compared to the new ones.
I’m not against the change, and would be happy either the original or CFD.

By: malcolm

malcolm — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 04:24:46 +0000

Don’t worry about the flag; worry about the country it stands for. Make NZ a more prosperous country and then people won’t be worried about the flag. We’d get our pride from something a little more tangible.

I like the NZ flag. It’s simple and attractive. The fern/koru designs look tacky and have about as much gravitas as a corporate logo.

By: scanner

scanner — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:55:24 +0000

One flag, one nation, one people.
Two flags flown side by side, two nations, two peoples them and us

By: RRM

RRM — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:53:45 +0000

PS: Option F is basically the old Interislander ferry funnel paint scheme.

http://www.tikitouring.co.nz/images/interislander-ferry.jpg

By: RRM

RRM — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:41:09 +0000

If it HAD to change – something like a Gordon Walters Koru pattern painting would be cool… Maori icon with a pakeha twist.

http://wpcontent.answers.com/wikipedia/en/3/38/Amoka.JPG

By: Tassman

Tassman — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:40:16 +0000

Yeah, and let the Hanglican choir sing their version of hardy saves the queen….

By: RRM

RRM — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:18:43 +0000

I am not the All Blacks.

Status quo – none of the above.

By: Banana Llama

Banana Llama — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:08:32 +0000

White feather on a black pirates flag what a pack of idiots.

By: John Ansell

John Ansell — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:57:00 +0000

Well, the debate’s bubbling along nicely.

439 votes in, with Stars on Blue ahead on 28% followed by Classic Black on 25%, Land and Sea on 22% and Maori Colours on 18%.

This progress result could be skewed because most voters have come from Kiwiblog, but now Trevor Mallard has linked from Red Alert (complete with health warning to his readers to hold their nose in case of right-wing rubbish!)

I’m a little surprised the green flag is polling so poorly (1%), as I thought that would appeal to our environmentalist friends. Perhaps someone could alert them.

If the top two remain the top two, I’ll put up my Stars on Black option to see if the Classic Blacks and Stars on Blue supporters consider that a worthwhile compromise. It also brings a Maori colourscheme into the mix.

Once the most popular Ansell/Wang fern is known, I’ll run another poll comparing it with the most popular other designs and the current flag.

By: Pete George

Pete George — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:17:31 +0000

Over the last couple of minutes I thought of a flag, it’s front all Red, with a bait hook up it’s back side.

By: Redbaiter

Redbaiter — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:10:00 +0000

Overnight, I thought of a flag that would really catch the spirit of Progressive NZ- The background in black (symbolizing rampant racism) and red (rampant socialism) with the fern replaced by one big over- stretched mammary gland. (rampant welfarism)

By: Murray

Murray — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 19:21:05 +0000

Those are not national flags, those are corporate logos. We have a national flag and its one of the oldest in the world. the arguments for chnaging are all total bullshit based on a tiny minority trying to impose their will on others. And DPF having aquired the habit of saying he is right and wont stop regardless of the outcome is an example of this.

If you can’t tell the difference between out flag and the Australians its because you personally are bloody ignorant. the New Zealand Ensign is the only flag in the world with white bordered red stars.

So bascially Cram it.

That goes for your bullshit republican movement too. This is my nation, not your company trying to rebrand for Christmas sales.

By: Flashman

Flashman — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:28:46 +0000

I think keep the white feather but give it a yellow background. That would capture the essence of The Tinky-Winky Republic rather nicely.

By: Tassman

Tassman — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:21:14 +0000

NZ would be the first and only country to have a naked woman on the flag keeping up with it’s junky stand on sybols and values as known around the world for…

By: joe90

joe90 — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:59:00 +0000

Umm, it's the union flag and it becomes the union jack when flown from a vessel.

By: kiwi in america

kiwi in america — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 15:19:40 +0000

Good effort John. I’m not overly upset with the current flag but the confusion with Australia is an issue. Of the ones you’ve done, I like the Southern Cross background – it links to the symbols and colours of the current flag. That said, I do like the clear simplicity of the Canadian flag and yes they were able to have a non UJ flag without becoming a Republic.

Of course we could just wait and let the Aussies change theirs, then we’d have the UJ + Sthern Cross to ourselves.