Mission & Strategy Statements - Darwin Day Holiday Campaign

Mission: To campaign for a National UK Public Darwin Day holiday on 12th February 2012 (or sooner) and thereafter annually
Strategy:

1. Contact MPs who signed Ashok Kumar's Early Day Motion 2002
   
2. Seek MPs (eg Evan Harris) to promote campaign in Parliament
   
3. Campaign targeted at British Humanist Association & BHA Science Group
1. Over 40 distinguished academics, philosophers, scientists and writers signed a BHA letter in February 2003 calling for a Darwin Day holiday.

Arguements for a Darwin Day Holiday in UK

1. A holiday celebrating Darwin would send out a signal that science matters, in an era when pseudo-science, fear of science and creationism / ID seems to be gaining ground.
2. The number of holidays in the UK (eight) is relatively small compared to the number in many other European countries. However, direct comparison is inaccurate since the 'holiday in lieu' scheme of deferrment does not apply in most European countries, where holidays that coincide with a weekend (29% of fixed-date holidays) are 'lost'. In fact, the average number of non-weekend holidays in such countries, is marginally higher (and in some cases lower) than the UK (source: wikipedia)
1. needs corroborating and elaborating