But honorary consuls are not all based in grand buildings with flags flying outside as one might expect.

BBC: The honorary consul who may be down your street

With flags flying at half-staff and ambulances racing through campus streets, the telltale signs of the tragedy still were evident more than a week after Katrina devastated the area.

CNN: Classes resume at LSU after Katrina

Tuesday was declared a national day of mourning after the tragedy, the worst to hit Nigeria's biggest city for a decade, with flags flying at half mast at government offices across the country.

CNN: Inquiry begins into Nigeria blasts

Bennett said Dame Thora "goes down with all flags flying, game to the last" in the drama, which was recorded nine months before her death.

BBC: NEWS | Entertainment | Dame Thora's swansong is aired

"At the finish Thora goes down with all her flags flying, game to the last, " the playwright said.

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It calls for proposals to be developed for "a regulatory process for dealing with the flying of flags".

BBC: Northern Ireland peace walls should 'come down by 2022'

While there's growing consensus about the need to deal with flags carrying the symbols of illegal paramilitary groups, the flying of national flags remains - as the Belfast council dispute illustrates - difficult terrain.

BBC: Northern Ireland