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.
Comment No. 1036566
January 8 14:03
GBR