Rebecca Barry: Downsize Jack for a bigger space to fly our identity

If a national flag is the symbol of a country, New Zealand is a land of superstars floating in blue soup like wayward bohemians, and that country on the other side of the blue soup, the one with the very straight and regimented ways of doing things, is what keeps us from out-shining them.

Well, we know that's nonsense. We've stopped listening to the Mother Country. Many of our stars are brown. We're emancipated. We're big enough to look after ourselves.

Before we go throwing a big teenage tanty, we have a lot to consider. Who do we think we are to go messing with tradition? Seriously, who do we actually think we are?

Well it's clear we're not Britons-lite, as the Union Jack suggests. When Prince William was here it felt more like a visit from a foreign pop star than a close brush with our heartland.

We are a multi-cultural nation with a proud Maori heritage and the flag doesn't recognise that fact.

We are definitely a nation of stars. Our nine Oscar nominations came about without any help from Britain.

So I suggest that if they want our flag to retain the Union Jack, maybe they should let us through customs without going through all that full-on visa hoopla.

New Zealand has outgrown its flag. We deserve a new one.

But we should proceed with caution. Changing the flag altogether would be a shame.

A flag represents our cultural identity. Our cultural identity comes from acknowledging the past as much as it does the present.

It would make sense to update the flag, adapt it, downsize the Union Jack.

We could do away with the blue soup because everyone knows we're surrounded by it.

I like the idea of a slick black flag although an American punk band and a fly spray brand do spring to mind.

Either way, the old Union Jack is part of our story, the roots of our tree.

It's a shame it's not easily incorporated into the swirls of the koru or the curves of the silver fern.

It is rigid, concerned with regulations and aristocracy. Those aren't things we associate with in wild, arty Aotearoa, with its mountainous landscape and beaches, volcanoes and glaciers.

If only Jack would yield, a suitable flag could fly.

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