Surprise, surprise, unions have yet again urged the government to introduce another bank holiday - in late October as always - to bring the UK more into line with European countries.
A 'new' report by the TUC out today (more likely a re-hash from reports of earlier years) says one million UK businesses could benefit from a new bank holiday. This time the day off is under the guise of a Community Day, to "celebrate and encourage volunteering and community activity."
You only have to do a quick google search to realise the TUC have been calling for this year after year. Some four years ago they were on the BBC website asking for another three public holidays to bring the UK total in line with the average of 11 in the EU.
In fact, also for years now, Gordon Brown has been calling for a British Day to celebrate all that is good about being British. Hmm. Whatever it is for, you could be forgiven for thinking that surely the new Day is on the cards any moment now.
The gushing TUC report - Why the UK can afford a Community Day - lists reason after reason why bank holidays are a good thing. It says that many customer-facing businesses, such as those in the retail and tourism sectors have stronger trading days on bank holidays and could benefit from a new public holiday.
As well as encouraging people to go on holidays and short breaks, bank holidays lead to more 'days out', which bring in £90 billion worth of spending a year to the economy in England alone, the report argues.
So why is nobody actually introducing one?!
"The government regularly receives a variety of suggestions for new or different bank holidays," a Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) spokesman told the BBC. "However, it is not possible to please everyone as to whom or what should be celebrated."
Why not? Why is the UK still so far behind almost every other country in Europe? Only the Netherlands has fewer public holidays than the UK, but Dutch workers have more annual leave. So why is it part of the British psych that any more bank holidays will ruin our economy?
Well folks, enjoy the last one of the year this Monday, 25 August, while you can.
