THE photographs on yesterday's front page caused diehard British patriots to choke on their breakfast muffins. When Xinhua (the New China News Agency) put up the big flags for its China National Day celebrations on Wednesday night, it put the UK flag upside down.
For reference, the thin red stripe on the left hand side should touch the vertical side where the flagpole would be, not run off the top.
Flying it upside-down is an internationally recognised signal for ships in distress.
Chris Patten recognised the flip-up immediately, he told colleagues yesterday morning. We should hope so. It's his flag. Flags are probably the first lesson in the crash course in protocol given to new governors.
However, the people at Xinhua obviously have more difficulty. It's the second year in the row they have made this mistake.
Even the 20,000 British people living in Hong Kong have difficulty too. We got maybe three calls yesterday.