please empty your brain below
Hmm. I hadn't actually noticed the recent public holidays. One day is much like another. It's often difficult to tell which day of the week it is!

Tim W | 26.05.20 - 7:30 a.m. | #

Thought the August bank holiday a bit of a waste, as most schools are still shut and many people are on holiday anyway, so its a sort of a bank holiday during a holiday.

Still Anon | 26.05.20 - 7:36 a.m. | #

"Halloween" BH would be most practical considering ROI has had one for decades - its fixed to the last Monday of October rather than moving with the feast.

The assumption that Halloween is American (rather than just the tackier elements of its celebration) may be a problem in England/Wales though.

Cian Duffy | Homepage | 26.05.20 - 8:00 a.m. | #

Having a Bank Holiday on the International Day of No Prostitution would ruin my plans.

Scott | Homepage | 26.05.20 - 8:12 a.m. | #

I'm not normally one to cast doubt on your statistical ruminations DG, but as Christmas Day occurs on the same day every year surely your blurb should say 'the only possible date'?

dg writes: Never risk a surely

As for an extra Bank Holiday why can't it take place in July when there's a good chance of the weather being hospitable? Heck the government could call it Celebrate Britain Day and give the countries' tourism and flag manufacturing businesses a huge financial boost.

milliem | 26.05.20 - 8:32 a.m. | #

26th October 1986 was Deregulation Day for the bus industry in the UK, but hardly a reason to commemorate with a bank holiday in 2020.

Petras409 | 26.05.20 - 8:33 a.m. | #

milliem - dg is referring to the Christmas Bank Holiday, not Christmas itself. If the 25th is a Saturday, then the BH is on the 27th.

Colly | 26.05.20 - 8:35 a.m. | #

(if it's all over by then) the October bank holiday would be a convenient time for a parade of NHS workers/celebrations...

James Scantlebury | 26.05.20 - 9:34 a.m. | #

Edward the Confessor was Patron Saint of England until usurped by a Cappadocian soldier who we have to share with several other countries. His feast day is October 13th, which falls on a Tuesday this year but I'd be happy to celebrate St Edward's Eve instead.

Timbo | 26.05.20 - 10:14 a.m. | #

Broke: Have your public holidays on any old day of the week
Woke: Have your public holidays on a Monday or Friday to make a long weekend
Bespoke en français: Have your public holidays on any old day of the week and take the days in between off to make a bridge to the weekend.

BWB | 26.05.20 - 10:19 a.m. | #

Under Schedule 1 of the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, several bank holidays were set as a specific Monday. Some are on dates that move around, and when they do the holiday is typically shifted to the next Monday (or Tuesday).

Any old excuse would do if this is a one-off extra bank holiday, but for a permanent feature something like "the Monday of (or immediately following)" either Trafalgar Day or Agincourt Day might work.

As it happens, I think 21 October 1805 was indeed a Monday, but 25 October 1415 (old style) was a Friday.

Andrew | 26.05.20 - 10:37 a.m. | #

A puente is also sometimes taken in Spain if the Bank Holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday.

If the holidays of 6th and 8th December fall on a Tuesday and a Thursday then some people take the whole week off and it's called an acueducto.

tops | 26.05.20 - 11:11 a.m. | #

Of course in Scotland the summer bank holiday is the first Monday in August. Then they celebrate St Andrew with a day off on November 30th.

ap | 26.05.20 - 11:51 a.m. | #

I'd be happy with having the 5th October off, it's my birthday.

David (@DTL) | Homepage | 26.05.20 - 11:59 a.m. | #

I'm amused by the suggestion (not DG's, I know!) that a single extra day off work in October will give the tourism industry any significant boost. If we're lucky we won't still be in full meltdown by then, but it'll still be pretty grim with a significant element of distancing, face masks etc when travelling and at venues, and the weather may well not co-operate either. Spreading out the pent-up demand to get out and do things would seem preferable to encouraging everyone to do it on the same weekend.

Andrew S | 26.05.20 - 12:33 p.m. | #

I don't see why an additional October bank holiday should be constrained by any coincidental celebrations. We already have the generic Summer Bank Holiday, why not introduce an Autumn Bank Holiday?

Anon | 26.05.20 - 1:17 p.m. | #

Whenever I see “dg writes: Never risk a surely”, I always imagine it in red ink with a note at the end saying “see me afterwards” 😂

Toni | 26.05.20 - 1:27 p.m. | #

I completely forgot yesterday was a BH, hence the bins went uncollected! So from a bin collecting point, a Friday BH would cause the least amount of upheaval.

My birthday is on the 25th so if the clocks go back that day I'll be getting an extra hour of celebrating in and a BH on the Monday would be most welcome!

But saying that, I'd much rather it was slotted in halfway towards the next one ie in mid-July - around the time the newly opened schools will be closing again!!

Cornish Cockney | 26.05.20 - 1:31 p.m. | #

You say that the bank holiday has to be a Monday or Friday. In France,public holidays 1 May, 14 July, 25 December, etc. take place on whatever day they happen to fall on.... with no "additional time off". So if Xmas day is a Sunday, you're back to work on Monday, etc. This seems a good solution as we do not then have to suffer those long, long Xmas breaks if 25 December is a Saturday... Saturday, Sunday, Boxing Day, Monday in lieu of Xmas day, Tuesday in lieu of Boxing Day, and so on. If a public holiday is say a Thursday, then many employees take the Friday as a vacation day "faire le pont", as they say. We have too many bank holidays when everything is jam packed because everyone is off... why not simply add extra bank holidays to people's annual vacation entitlement and give them a choice?

Paul Bohane | 26.05.20 - 4:06 p.m. | #

I've always wondered about the first bit of this post (days between BHs and variations), but was always too lazy to actually look it up/research. So thank you for doing this! ;D

R | 26.05.20 - 5:04 p.m. | #

To throw my speculation into the mix, I think they might try and replicate the double dip bank holidays from Spring. And have a similar amount of time as there is between the early and late spring bank holidays.That'd put it around 17th September.

This also gives the opportunity to celebrate/mourn the 319th Anniversary of the Death of King James II. Which definitely feels catchy.

R | 26.05.20 - 5:12 p.m. | #

Dont forget Boxing day is on Saturday this year so the Monday will be a bank holiday:)

Lucy | 27.05.20 - 7:22 a.m. | #

As IanVisits pointed out a few years ago, the Queen proclaimed 1 January as a one-off bank holiday in England for 1974, and that exercise has been repeated annually since (for example, most recently, in July 2019.

Similar annual proclaimations are needed to declare Boxing Day and the last Monday in May as bank holidays in Scotland (for example, May 2020), to declare the first Monday in May as a holiday in England and the July Boyne holiday in Northern Ireland (for example, July 2018).

Sometimes the proclamations are not made, by accident or by design, but people seem to assume the usual days are public holidays anyway.

Andrew | 27.05.20 - 11:12 a.m. | #











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