IS Bermuda in distress? Is the Premier sending a cryptic message to the people that Independence is nigh?

According to one angry veteran, the Union flag is hanging upside down at the Cenotaph in Hamilton. "The Union Jack's been hanging upside down since the Remembrance Day parade," he said. "It's a disgrace!"

To deliberately fly the flag upside down has traditionally been regarded as a distress signal. Flying the Union flag the wrong way up is regarded as an insult to the Crown and is technically still a crime throughout the UK and the Commonwealth.

The Union flag, commonly known as the Union Jack, is not symmetrical in design and therefore, it is possible to hang it upside down.

The symbol of the United Kingdom encompasses the English red cross of St. George, the Scottish white cross on a blue background of St. Andrew and the red diagonal cross of St. Patrick, representing Northern Ireland.

When the cross of St. Patrick was incorporated into the flag by King George III in 1801, the designers tried to ensure that all the crosses could be recognised as individual flags as well as co-existing in the same flag.

They achieved this by making the white background (Scottish cross) broader on one side of the Irish red than on the other.

The correct way to fly the flag is for the broader white diagonal stripe to be at the top left hand side of the flag, nearest the flagpole. So on the hoist side, the thick white band is above the red band on both diagonals and on the free fluttering side of the flag, vice-versa.

The lack of wind at the Cenotaph yesterday did not make it easy to judge whether the flag was the wrong way up, but we believe the veteran who called in was correct.

The upside down Union flag as a distress signal was normally used on the high seas, but also came to be employed when forces were under siege, as in the Boer War or during fighting in India in the 18th century.