The French government has fallen (again) because they decided to get rid of two of the country's 11 bank holidays. Non!
It seemed to me I should know a bit more about bank holidays. Why do they exist? Who invented them? Given economists consider poor productivity to be a key driver of the UK's weak economy, shouldn't we ban them? How much does a bank holiday cost the country?
We can blame Sir John Lubbock, who introduced the Bank Holidays Act of 1871, which created the first official bank holidays in England, Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. I asked ChatGPT why?
In addition to the “sacred” days (Christmas, Good Friday, Sundays), the Act designated Easter Monday, Whit Monday, first Monday in August and Boxing Day (Scotland has always had different days, let's ignore that for the moment). Funnily enough, Christmas Day (a traditional holiday) didn't become an official Bank Holiday until 1974, although banks had always closed on that day.
Later additions to the list were New Year's Day, May Day and the last Monday in August. The Spring Bank Holiday replaced Whit Monday.
What is it with bankers? Are they so rich they need extra time in which to spend their money? Just get back in, get rid of all these unnecessary holidays except Christmas Day and GET THE COUNTRY BACK TO WORK! (I know, I've gone all Trumpish).
Given that we all bank online nowadays, do we need high street banks at all? Maybe we should call these holidays Public Entitlement Days instead of Bank Holidays; perhaps that would cause people to think about whether we need them.
I'm with Boris on this; in 2022 when England's women won the European Championships, there was a (public? media?) clamour for a one-off bank holiday but he said No on account of the "big economic cost of an extra bank holiday". Good for him. Although he did say he'd consider it if the men's team won something, which is (a) typically Boris sexism and (b) an easy promise because there is no chance of it ever happening.
The French government wanted to scrap Easter Monday and VE Day and that didn't end well. So perhaps beware.
I should probably, in the cause of complete transparency, declare an interest. As a pensioner, every day is a holiday.
I’ve commented on this topic before! All the evidence shows that more breaks raises production.
ReplyDeleteSo, let’s have at least six more to bring us in line with Europe.
1 October 4th the feast of St Francis to remind everyone about caring for the environment. Perhave the entire nation spending one hour litter picking from 8 to 9 am.
2 the Monday of the Autumn half term so the children see a bit more of their parents.
3 November 1st. All Saints to remember the dead and bring us in line with the rest of Europe
4 February 2nd. Candlemas to cheer us up as the days begin to get a bit longer
5 1st March St David’s day so the Welsh don’t feel dishonoured.
6 23rd April for St George who was Turkish and is also the patron saint of Nigeria as there is a sizeable diaspora here
And that’s just for starters.