Hooray! Hooray!

During the Ealing Southall by-election, Tory loudspeakers proclaimed in various Asian languages that the Tories would make Muslim, Hindu and Sikh festivals public holidays in the same way as Christmas Day. And the Tories still came third!

We have far fewer public holidays in Britain than in Europe generally because other countries’ are drawn either from the liturgical calendar or from the great events in their respective histories. Who in Britain would know what these things were? David Cameron? Tony Blair? Come on! (To be fair, Gordon Brown would.) Positively rejoicing in this baleful state of affairs is but one among the numerous demonstrations of just how utterly unconservative capitalism is.

This year, the holiday that everyone still calls Whit Monday happened to coincide with the real one. Well, let the real one be restored. While we’re at it, let Ascension Day be made a public holiday, as in Catholic and Protestant Europe alike. And most of all, let Saint George’s Day, Saint Andrew’s Day, Saint David’s Day and Saint Patrick’s Day be made public holidays throughout the United Kingdom. To those who argue that this would create a glut in the Spring and early Summer, I ask when else they would want public holidays if at all possible? In October, so that we could all sit in the wind and the rain?

Furthermore, although public holidays might be a bit much simply because of the sheer number of days involved (though for no other reason), our public institutions, not least including schools and the BBC, should mark the National Day of each and every Realm or Territory with which we share a Head of State.