Ethos Public Relations Manchester

More bank holidays please!

by Debbie

Everyone I speak to is really looking forward to the four day Easter break. And no wonder - it's been far too long since the Christmas break!?

The bank holiday system in the UK needs review. Just think about it - after August we don't get any more holidays until Christmas so most of the bank holiday dates are squashed into the first five or six months of the year then we are starved of them.

Bank holidays (as the name suggests) evolved because when the Bank of England closed on specific dates no trading could be done - so all other businesses thought 'sod it' we may as well close too. But - and this is really upsetting - prior to 1834 the Bank of England observed a staggering 33 religious days and festivals. Then in 1834 some miserable government official decided that was not on and the days were drastically cut.

I'm looking at ways to increase my bank holiday or religious days off. I can remain Christian from December to Easter, then explore other religions such as Judaism, Buddhism and Islam for the rest of the year to take full advantage of their fabulous festival and feast days until we hit December again.

One other thing - our European counterparts on average get more bank holidays than we do. So if we are all one European community why can't we all celebrate everybody else's - such as Bastille Day, Day of German Unity and Dia de la Constituci'n?

Anyone want to join my campaign?

Posted at 2:00pm on 9^th April 2009