Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Furious row unfurls over design of Sutherland’s new flag

The new Sutherland flag
The new Sutherland flag

A furious row has unfurled over the design of Sutherland’s new flag – with an centrepiece eagle described as looking more like a “budgie.”

The flag, showing a swooping eagle on a yellow and red background with three stars or “mullets”, has been deemed ugly and questions have been raised over what it has to do with the county.

One Facebook user likened the flag to one of “an outer Mongolian third division football team” and another likened it to a “communist flag”.

Carey Kerr posted: “It is horrific. The last place I think of when I see that flag is Sutherland. There is absolutely nothing Scottish about it. A very sad outcome. Seems over 300 entries just weren’t good enough for the judges.”

Andrew Richert wrote:”At least the communist style design matches the communist style selection process where a board of 11 people reject every submitted design to build their own anyway!”

Only two messages of support were left on a Facebook page for the flag. One of them, from Brady Ellis, said: “It’s not all that bad.”

Sutherland’s Lord Lieutenancy team had organised the competition to find an image for a new flag that would “unify” the county.

There were 328 entries for the contest, which was launched last September and ended in November.

An 11-strong selection panel comprising members of the Lord Lieutenancy and representatives of youth and other groups across the county spent a day sifting through entries. They were guided by flag expert Philip Tibbett and heraldry expert Dr Joseph Morrow, the Lord Lyon of Scotland, who was present at the selection day.

At the time Vice Lord-Lieutenant Colin Gilmour said the panel had been very impressed with the standard of the designs with a wide variety of images submitted featuring deer, otters, eagle, wild cats and Highland cattle among other wildlife.

The judging panel eventually chose three winners with the final design an amalgam of all three.

The criticism of the design centres round the yellow and gold colour and the use of the eagle rather than a wildcat – seen to be the traditional emblem of Sutherland.

Lt Col Colin Gilmour, spokesman for the flag selection committee, said it was inevitable that some comments on the final choice would be unfavourable. He pointed out that the lieutenancy organised the competition but did not have a deciding vote, instead the winning artwork was decided democratically and representation on the selection committee was from across Sutherland.

He said: “Importantly the young generation seem very enthusiastic about it. Feedback from the children and youth is overwhelmingly positive.”