This story needs sharing. I’ve now been sent this letter by multiple people connected to Hovis in Northern Ireland, but it doesn’t stop there. Since I released this story earlier, I’ve had people getting in touch with me from multiple Hovis locations across the United Kingdom, including Bradford, sharing their own experiences and concerns. The letter sent to Hovis employees says that, under a new dress code, staff are no longer permitted to wear clothing displaying flags, emblems or team symbols while at work. That includes football shirts, rugby shirts and other sporting clothing. Hovis says this is to create a neutral and inclusive working environment because sporting identities can be associated with community or political affiliations. This is Northern Ireland A place where people from Republican and Unionist communities, Catholics and Protestants, Rangers supporters and Celtic supporters, have worked alongside one another despite generations of division. Northern Ireland has spent decades learning how to live alongside differences in religion, politics, identity and culture. So how have we reached a point where a football shirt, a flag or a sporting emblem is now considered such a problem that it needs to be removed from the workplace? And when people from completely different communities were able to work alongside one another through some of the darkest periods in Northern Ireland’s history, I think it is fair to ask why we now seem so concerned about people being offended by differences in identity. So how have we reached a point where a football shirt, a flag or a sporting emblem is now considered such a problem that it needs to be removed from the workplace? Since I released this story earlier, more people have started coming forward. I’m being told about employees who have worked for the company for years and who say they had no previous warnings before facing disciplinary action or dismissal. I’ve also been told about money being offered in connection with keeping matters quiet. Those are serious claims, and I’m listening to the people making them. Because when one story is published and suddenly people from different locations across the UK start coming forward with their own experiences, you have to ask questions. @hovisbakery people are clearly talking. And I’m listening. The story needs telling.