Give us a break

We need a new bank holiday, but the government should ask the public to decide when it should fall and what it should celebrate

Sunder Katwala

January 8, 2008 1:00 PM |

Britain is bottom of Europe's bank holiday league table. In England, we get a measly eight days a year. After New Year's Day, we won't have another one before Easter. And once the flurry of spring bank holidays is over, there is a long haul from the August bank holiday through to Christmas.

Two years ago, as chancellor, Gordon Brown addressed the Fabian Society's Future of Britishness conference, sparking widespread debate by asking:

"What is the British equivalent of the US July 4, or even the French July 14 for that matter? What I mean is: what is our equivalent for a national celebration of who we are and what we stand for?"

Now that he is prime minister, Brown should act and make the introduction of a new bank holiday part of his new year agenda.

There is an increasing groundswell of support. The Fabian Society has been championing the case for more bank holidays since 2001. There have been some positive developments. Employers who deduct bank holidays from statutory annual leave will no longer be able to do so.

The TUC has been a consistent champion of the issue. We owe the ideas of the weekend and the working week to trade union pressure. Time off should still be a public and political issue today.

Support is growing from new sources too. The holiday firm Thomas Cook has launched its own campaign over the Christmas break, and has gathered 100,000 signatures.

A new "British day" will succeed if it is owned by the public, not the government. Ministers Liam Byrne and Ruth Kelly argued last year in their Fabian paper A Common Place (pdf) that a new British day should learn from the success of Australia Day in being rooted in communities around Australia, warning against a top down approach.

"An estimated two thirds of Australians celebrate the day in some way. Four out of five (78.3%) Australians think Australia Day is still significant, and the day is now an important part of Australia's national life.

Garnering this kind of support would mean a national day evolving, not being landed on the country like the Millennium Dome."

The best way to achieve that is to let the public decide when it should be. So this week, GMTV and the Fabian Society have launched a new push to get a new bank holiday adopted in 2008, with a debate throughout the week about when a new British bank holiday could be held.

There are a wide range of possibilities. As we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the NHS this year, my colleague Rachael Jolley and I suggest that a new holiday could mark this great symbol of a fair society. As US presidential candidates again grapple with the lack of universal health coverage, perhaps the British "July 4" should be on July 5, the birthday of the NHS.

The thinktank IPPR has proposed that the monday after Remembrance Sunday could be used to celebrate civic service and community heroes, also becoming the day on which honours are awarded; GMTV's Fiona Phillips suggested that this date could be used to honour the contribution of the armed forces; like the NHS, an important symbol of public service.

Shakespeare day - marking the birth and death of our most famous writer on April 23 would mean a bank holiday coinciding with St George's Day in England. It could be a British-wide celebration of literature, culture and language.

Later this week, GMTV presenters will make the case for Beatles day and indeed Diana day too.

Were the government to commit to having a public debate about a British day and when it should be, there would be practical questions about how to organise this.

But it should be possible to open the issue for public nominations from which a wide-ranging panel would select a shortlist. The final choice could be made by public vote - in a Great Britons-style television debate across a number of weeks.

The process of debating a range of options would increase public ownership of the final result. A democracy day to mark the suffragettes and those who campaigned to get us all the vote, a Windrush day to mark British diversity and the positive contribution of immigration, a Trafalgar day to mark Britain's naval tradition, celebrating British science and invention or our sporting traditions; all these would appeal to different people.

A debate would capture the public imagination and we would learn a lot about our history and society in the process.

Of course, there are bigger and more important issues about how to strengthen British citizenship. The government, has not yet decided whether to go for the full monty of a written constitution. They should - and ensure there is strong public and political engagement in what it contains.

But symbols matter too - and a new British day would be a popular way to capture this. So, come on Gordon Brown: give us a break with a new bank holiday - and let the people decide when it should be.

Comments Summary

"Shakespeare day"

1) Fix the date of Easter to first Sunday in April.

2) Separate the two Bank Holidays in May, moving one of them (doesn't matter which) to be another summer Bank Holiday in July.

3) Add in another Bank Holiday sometime in October/November. Doesn't particularly have to mark anything at all does it?

I don't care what it celebrates (within reason!) so long as it comes roughly between August Bank Holiday and Christmas or maybe between New Year and Easter - those are the two times in desperate need of bank holidays. Actually - let's bring in two new bank holidays!

It's probably the attempt to make it some sort of "British Day", that is holding up its introduction - it's a PC minefield. Just have a "Nothing In Particular Beyond Giving Us A Break" Day, and get it done. "Autumn Bank Holiday" is pretty neutral and un-charged with controversy, and would be at about the right time of year. Or, pick a rough "target" time of year for it, and then find a new reason to have it each year, commemorating something that happened at that time. It could be like the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square, with rotating reasons to have it.

"Britain is bottom of Europe's bank holiday league table. In England, we get a measly eight days a year."

In Berlin, we get eight this year as well, since 1st May is on Ascension Day - both holidays fall on the same day. Bad luck for us.

It's even worse in Germany some years when 1st May, 3rd October, Christmas and New Year all fall at the weekend. We don't get holidays at all. At worst, Saturday is a holiday and everything is shut, so we get a weekend of two Sundays. Great.

So stop moaning about not getting enough bank holidays. At least the ones you get are guaranteed.

SukieBapswent

Comment No. 1036566

January 8 14:03

GBR

Darwin Day, 12th Feb. We can install it as part of his 200th next year, and 150th of Orgin of Species. Everyone has to wear a great big bushy beard.

Flippant suggestion - celebrate the birth of the greatest Englishman, Sir Isaac Newton (25/12/1642).

Not so flippant suggestion - 2008 will be the 80th anniversary of universal suffrage. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representation_of_the_People_Act_1928. Anyone know the date?

Doctor Who Day

Does it need to celebrate anything? What does the August bank holiday celebrate?

'Dodi and Di Day' certainly has a ring to it.

A Rupert the Bear day.

We could all wear checked trousers, silly scarfs and prance around saying: "Hi, I'm Rupert the Bear. Do you want to come and have some fun."

Diana Dors Day (23 October), devoted to brassy 1950 British cinema? That would be ace.

@FeralBlogger - 'Dodi and Di Day' certainly has a ring to it.

How about 'Dodi and Di Dead Due to Dickhead Drunk Driver Day'

Spinozist: What about Dalek Day?

Dido Day?

St George's Day.

Early October - Eric Morecombe day.

Not a saints day please, keep anything even vaguely religious out of it.

How about freedom day? All CCTV could be turned off and ceremonial ID cards would burn up and down the land.

Or payday? The last Friday of each month. That would get us up there with the Italians and Spanish for days off.

How come the EU hasn't dictated an EU bank holiday as yet? Even the Sun would get behind that bit of Brussels interference.

Oil day. This would be calculated in the same way as tax freedom day. Due to declining North Sea oil production it would get earlier each year so you would never have to wait a full 365 days for the next one.

I think we should have a Churchill Day.

Brill, another holiday! Right my conditions are
1) that it should not be in some horrible overcast month like February when no bugger wants to get out and do anything,

Bank Holidays are a Victorian anachronism. They were invented in order to give hard-pressed workers, who often worked 350 days a year, a few days off. Nowadays, when most people have between 20-30 days' holiday from work (plus weekends), they have long outlived their point. Most people now go to work on only 200 or so days a year. It is all very well saying we have fewer Bank Holidays than other European countries, but this is one issue on which they should come into line with us, rather than the reverse. Personally I would scrap all existing Bank Holidays, other than Christmas Day and Good Friday. Why not compare ourselves with the USA, where most people work for around 250 days a year?

I'm with SukieBapswent - Darwin Day is the way forward. We'll start it off basic and it can evolve into something grander.

March 26th - Dawkins Day.

No Saints, to devisive. Make it secular. So Dissenters Day would be my choice. A holiday where every British citizen, no matter their race or religion can do exactly what they want and flick two fingers to the Man!

I think we should call it Freedom Day and it should be moveable. Freedom Day is the day when you stop working for the taxman and start working for yourself. It has crept further into the year as Labour tax us more and hence you work more for Gordy each year than you do for yourself.

Call me mad, but wouldn't it be easier to just give us all a day off, pluck it out of the year at random, and let every person privately decide what the hell to do with it. That way we would not create another pointless opening for tedious and tendentious debate with the religiously, politically and nationalistically minded, who get enough of the world's time as it is.

As long as it's a day off work i'll be happy although any celebration involving the creepy weirdos in government or anything based on politically correct box ticking will be doomed to failure as a celebration.

Make it English, make it Shakespeare and then leave people to do whatever they want

I'd definitely vote for John Peel Day, Darwin Day, or Independence From America Day.

I like SukieBapswent's Darwin Day, but only the beards bit really - and anyway it's only upset the religious types so why not BEARDIE DAY? A sure-fire crowd pleaser as you're free to choose the beardie of your choice for private or indeed public, no-holds-barred celebration. Great for the godly types of practically every persuasion AND the Darwin fans (how many other celebrations could say this?)

Darwin Day - Wikipedia

Many events and campaigns have celebrated Darwin Day but very few have achieved status of a public holiday.

In the UK, the celebration of Darwin's work and tributes to his life have been organized sporadically since his death on April 19, 1882, at age 73. Events took place at Down House, in Downe on the southern outskirts of London where Darwin and members of his family lived from 1842 until the death of Emma Darwin in 1896. In 1909, 265 scientists and dignitaries from 167 countries met in Cambridge, England, to honor Darwin's contributions and to discuss vigorously the recent discoveries and related theories contesting for acceptance.

Some advocates would like a public holiday declared for 12 February 2009. Robert Beeston was successful in championing a public holiday in Des Moines, Iowa, in 2003 (No reference).

Note: Since 2000 Charles Darwin has appeared on the Bank of England ten-pound note and has been celebrated on postage stamps in several countries.

Evolution Day - 24th November 2009 - 150th Anniversary

Evolution Day is the anniversary of the first publication of The Origin of Species on 24 November 1859.

The year 2009 will mark the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin as well as the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth.

Visit Darwins' grave at Westminster Abbey

A couple of years ago, a Bright friend and I took the tour of Westminster Abbey (Where Darwin is buried) on Darwin Day.

The Cleric who guided the group we were in was very articulate, very knowledgable and very interesting. Every half hour, another cleric mounted the pulpit and called the faithful to prayer and worship over the PA system.

My friend and I wanted to know if the tour guide would mention Darwin and if so what he would say. We approached Darwin's tomb towards the end of the tour and stood next to the memorial to Sir Isaac Newton. As he finished talking about Newton, the guide indicated Darwin's plain tombstone in the floor nearby and he said:

"You might be surprised to know that Charles Darwin is buried here."

An American lady in the group responded with;

"Darwin! Isn't he the evolution man! What is HE doing HERE!"

The cleric responded with a little speech about British Culture and how it honours its Kings, Queens and great men in a way that perhaps Americans would take a while to understand.

I then asked him if he knew that it was Darwin Day. He replied:

"Is it really? No I didn't know that."!

and we moved on to look are the row of statues depicting 20th century Martyrs looking down on Darwin's plain slab in the floor. We heard how wonderful the Martyrs were in dedicating their lives to God and dying for their beliefs.

The tour then ended and, somehow, I felt unable to slip the cleric a small reward for his efforts.

Feb 12th is the last Darwin Day bforw 2009 and I've been wondering if we should send a team in to Westminster Abbey to repeat that experiment. The tour is generally very interesting and the PA prayer session can easily be ignored. I'm based in Scotland but I could join in if there was sufficient interest in a meetup in London on Darwin Day.

Stay Bright

John (Emo) Wiltshire.

Mission Statement - Darwin Day Celebration

Mission Statement

The dual mission of Darwin Day Celebration is to promote public education about science and in addition to encourage the celebration of Science and Humanity throughout the global community including the general public, private and public institutions, science professionals, science educators at all levels, libraries, museums, the print and electronic media, and science enthusiasts everywhere. Science is our most reliable knowledge system. It has been, and continues to be, acquired solely through the application of human curiosity and ingenuity and, most importantly, it has provided enormous benefit to the health, prosperity and intellectual satisfaction for our human existence. These are worthy achievements for all people to celebrate!

To accomplish this mission Darwin Day Celebration will maintain an attractive website that provides potential participants with extensive educational material, together with examples and appropriate suggestions, on ways to develop meaningful celebrations. All participants are invited and encouraged to register their events on this website by going here in order to both advertise their celebrations and to develop a sense of common purpose among all participants.

To support this mission, Darwin Day Celebration will maintain an ongoing, continually expanding, international outreach effort, using all means at our disposal such as, lists of names and email addresses in the categories named above, in order to encourage participation. Press releases, email announcements and even snail mail invitations will be employed to promote this worthy cause. The countdown to 2009 -- Darwin’s 200th birthday, is underway. We hope you will join this effort and experience the satisfaction of participating with others to establish a positive celebration that reaches out to our entire Global Community! We believe it’s an idea whose time has come!!!

More public holidays proposed by BHA

More public holidays
We propose more religious holidays in schools. Our original suggestion was that this could be done by ‘clawing back’ (say) 20 days from current school holidays and redistributing them as, for example, Easter, Divali, Eid, Passover etc, according to nationally or locally co-ordinated schemes.

It is possible now for LEAs to set their own holidays, and some already recognise non-Christian holidays: Newham LEA has redistributed 4 days as religious holidays for faiths other than Christian, and other London boroughs have taken similar action. The total number of days off would not change and those who worked in schools and the tourist industry need not lose out.

We believe that giving whole schools or whole LEAs days off for religious festivals is far less disruptive for pupils and teachers than merely permitting a minority of pupils and teachers to take days off while normal classes continue.

However, the Local Government Association had commissioned some research into the effects of holidays on learning and, as a result, did not recommend increasing the number of one-day holidays, though it recommended changes in school holidays which would include fixing the time of the spring holiday and giving just one or two days off for the moveable holiday of Easter25.

It is also clear that teachers value the long summer holiday and would resent any change to that. Our modified proposal, which we believe would be a significant symbolic sign of respect to minority groups in schools, is that six new holidays are created, one for each of the major non- Christian faiths and one for humanists and other non-religious people.

(We proposed Darwin Day, 12th February, for non-religious people, and invited suggestions from religious groups for the other five.)

At the very least, we suggest that religious holidays are taken into consideration when considering reforms of the academic year.

We also propose that that these be public holidays, to be partially achieved by replacing some existing bank holidays that have no apparent significance. More, and more pluralist, religious holidays in the workplace would send out a strong positive signal to religious minorities in our community and increase goodwill towards them.

We have fewer (8) public, or bank, holidays than many other countries, and expanding the number of public as well as school religious holidays would enable parents to spend these holidays with their children. It is also essential that school and public examinations acknowledge religious holidays in their time-tables.

BHA Press Release - Darwin Day a natural holiday?

Press Release: Darwin Day a natural holiday?
February 12th 2003

Over 40 distinguished academics, philosophers, scientists and writers called for a new public holiday on 12 February to celebrate the birth of Charles Darwin. In a letter to the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary (see below for text and signatures), organised by the British Humanist Association, they proposed a new public holiday on the calendar by 2009, the 200th anniversary of his birth. They wrote that public recognition of Charles Darwin in this way had assumed particular importance with the rise of creationism in British schools.

The letter was published in The Times on Wednesday 12 February, with half a dozen signatures selected by The Times: Simon Blackburn, Francis Crick, Richard Dawkins, Richard Doll, Philip Pullman, Claire Rayner. It provoked some lively and positive responses, both on The Times letters page and to the BHA.

Two of the signatories, philosopher Stephen Law and scientist Robin Dunbar , were the main speakers at the first BHA Darwin Day lecture ‘What's wrong with creationism?’ at Conway Hall, London , on the evening of 12 February. They were joined by a third signatory, Richard Dawkins , who participated in the discussion from the floor.

Read the full report of the event and Stephen Law’s lecture .

Enquiries: Marilyn Mason, British Humanist Association, on 020 7430 0908 or email education@humanism.org.uk . Some signatories are prepared to speak to the media about the letter.

See also Darwin Day website for news and information about the international campaign for a Darwin Day holiday.



Letter in full with complete list of signatories:
(Further updates and signatures available from BHA office)

Darwin Day

We, the undersigned, support proposals for the creation of a new public holiday, Darwin Day, on February 12th. This is the birthday of Charles Darwin, one of the greatest British scientists and thinkers that ever lived. At a time when creationism appears to be gaining ground in English schools, the public celebration of Charles Darwin's contribution to modern science could send out a clear message of support for scientific thinking.

It will be the 200th anniversary of his birth in 2009, and we very much hope that this new public holiday will be in place by then.

Yours sincerely

Hanne Stinson (BHA Executive Director)
Jane Asher
Professor Simon Blackburn
Sir Tom Blundell, FRS
Sir Hermann Bondi, FRS
Alan Brownjohn
Sir Roy Calne, FRS
Dr Malcolm Cass
Michael Clark
Sir Kenneth Clucas
Michael Connarty MP
Professor Sir Bernard Crick
Professor Francis Crick, FRS
Dr Helena Cronin
Professor Richard Dawkins (BHA Vice-President)
Sir Richard Doll, CH, FRS
Lord Dormand of Easington (BHA Vice-President)
Professor Robin Dunbar, FBA
Michael Foot
Dr Steven French
Professor John Harper, FRS
Professor Hugh Huxley, MBE, FRS
Professor Steve Jones
Sir Ludovic Kennedy
Professor Sir Hans Kornberg, FRS
Dr Brendan Larvor
Dr Stephen Law
Professor John Maynard Smith, FRS
Professor David Papineau
Sir Roger Penrose, FRS
Philip Pullman
Dr Janet Radcliffe Richards
Claire Rayner, OBE (BHA President)
Jonathan Rée
Dr Ben Rogers
Professor Sir Joseph Rotblat, FRS
Professor Peter Simons
Sir David Smith, FRS
Professor Sir Kenneth Stuart, FRS
Polly Toynbee
Professor Sir David Weatherall, FRS
Dr Nigel Warburton
Professor Lewis Wolpert, CBE, FRS (BHA Vice-President)

Darwin Day Celebration

This is the main website I've found celebrating Darwin Day.

Darwin's 200th Birthday will occur on February 12, 2009; it will also be the 150th Anniversary of the publication of his famous book, On The Origin of Species. So, together we can evolve a truly international Celebration to express gratitude for the enormous benefits that scientific knowledge, acquired through human curiosity and ingenuity, has contributed to the advancement of humanity. The objective of Darwin Day Celebration is to encourage existing institutions worldwide, such as municipalities, public and private schools, colleges and universities, libraries, museums, churches, private organizations and individuals to celebrate Science and Humanity every year, on, or near, February 12, Darwin's birthday!

Here are ways you can participate:

1. Sponsor and produce a annual Darwin Day EVENT and register it.
2. Plan to produce a special EVENT for Darwin's Bicentennial birthday and register it for 2009!
3. Browse these Links to Darwin Day (DDC) related Websites for ideas on how to create an Event.