The red and white flag of England will be flying above 10 Downing Street on Wednesday alongside the Union Flag to mark St George’s Day.

It will be the first time in recent history that the two flags will have flown above the Prime Minister’s official residence to commemorate England’s national day.

Other government departments are being encouraged to follow suit under constitutional reforms aiming “to give British people a stronger sense of what it means to be British”.

Whitehall will also for the first time be able to fly the national flags of Scotland and Wales on their buildings on St Andrew’s Day and St David’s Day.

The changes to protocol were introduced at the end of March, while restrictions on the number of days a year that government buildings could fly the Union Flag were lifted last year.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has even published detailed guidance on the arcane British rules of flag flying.

Only buildings with two poles can fly the flag of St George on Wednesday because the Union Flag takes precedence.

Single-masted establishments must stick to the Union banner.

Has the government gone flag-crazy? Is it really British to fly the flag?

“The Apprentice” has found its bully, sergeant major and army officer — oh, and its first scapegoat.

So scary was the bully that she was even likened to the villain of the last series Katie Hopkins.

But at least you could watch and learn from Hopkins and admire her lucidity, if not her morals.

This bully — step forward Jenny Celerier — is just, well … brutish.

Admittedly, the two women share the same naff dress sense — white suits for Hopkins and ties and neck scarves pulled just a little too meanly and tightly for Celerier.

But Celerier just alternates between ignoring her team or shouting at them, reducing some to tears in front of others.

“I am the project manager and I have not finished speaking”, must surely become her catchphrase.

Making Shazia Wahab the scapegoat for the laundry exercise was a masterclass in hypocrisy.

While Wahab showed enthusiasm and initiative, Celerier came up with the idea of charging five pounds to launder a pillow case and asking for tips from customers whose clothing had gone missing. 

Was this even more embarrassing than the kiss-o-gram policy adopted by the girls’ team in the last series?

Unlike her comments on “The Apprentice” Web site, Wahab was not a “stubborn cow who wants to have the last word” — she was too much in shock at Celerier’s tactics and criticisms to put up a fight in the boardroom.

Under Celerier’s leadership the girls, who won the first challenge, were reduced to arguing among themselves rather like washerwomen, as Adrian Chiles described it in the post-programme analysis.

The boys on the other hand were transformed under the leadership of Raef Bjayou, who really can’t be that posh AND be on television.

After the first week of the business TV reality show, the candidates are beginning to stand out more than the boys’ haircuts, and possibly even Alan Sugar’s increasingly garish ties.

And an early likely winner is Simon Smith who slipped seamlessly into his former role as an NCO in the Royal Artillery, following the orders of Bjayou and putting in the hard graft.

As he said himself: “I’m the sergeant major and Bjayou is the officer. It’s like the old days.”