R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

Find out what it means to me.

Today marks the 75th anniversary of VE day. A hugely significant point in British history, nay, in European history. Having a bank holiday is meant to have significance. This is certainly one of those days.

However, I find myself asking "did the British public deserve to have their usual May Day bank holiday effectively cancelled in place of a bank holiday to mark VE day?"



In short, my answer is "no".

Any examples of international comparison here will draw on French customs, because I've experienced it and I also teach about it, so have a bit more awareness than I do of other countries across the globe. I've found this website to be quite useful in refreshing my memory of the history of some events on the annual calendar, particularly the traditional May Day festivities in the UK, and also showing at a glance which other countries also observe each holiday.

Having lived in France and experienced the month of bank holidays that May seems to be, it strikes me that the UK simply marking milestones of historic events such as VE day detracts from the purpose of making the day a bank holiday in the first place. The treaty was signed to bring peace in Europe for the rest of time (in a utopic sense, granted) but why is this historic day largely ignored unless it's a nice easy to remember number such at 50 or 75? Every year, in France and many of the DROM-COM (the old DOM-TOM - there was a change in how overseas territories were classified in 2003), VE day is a jour férié (a bank holiday). Every year. In the same vein, Armistice Day on November 11th is a bank holiday every year. What does France see about dates that mark the bringing about of peace and freedom (however limited following either world war) that the UK doesn't.

1st May is a jour férié in France every year too. It's called the Fête des Travailleurs (Workers' Day) and it is always celebrated on 1st May. No matter which day that falls on. Here in the UK, we celebrate it on the first Monday of May, so it could be as late as 7th May in any given year. Have you ever wondered how all the UK's bank holidays, apart from Christmas Day and Good Friday, fall on a Monday? This article from The Guardian in 2018 was when I first became acutely aware of this trend and the reason behind it:

The final change should be an end to the rule that makes all public holidays except Christmas and Good Friday fall on a Monday. This is part and parcel of the crudely utilitarian ethos of bank holidays, which are designed begrudgingly to ensure that if we must take time off it should interfere as little as possible with the usual routines of production and commerce.

The whole article was eye-opening for me at the time. It got me thinking about why we are (or aren't, as the article subtly suggests) so precious about our bank holidays. For me, it's that I've lived somewhere where they have more of them, and observe them far more strictly than the UK does nowadays. It also got me wondering whether our bank holidays have any meaning to them any more.

Consider that bank holidays no longer signal the ubiquitous shut down of everyday life in the way that it did perhaps 30 years ago, perhaps longer. Shops only close on Christmas Day now (and Easter Sunday - though why the bank holiday must wait until the next day is beyond me). On any May Day, spring bank holiday, new year's day you will find most shops open for business as usual - albeit with reduced opening hours. Most businesses no longer offer higher rates of pay to those employees required work on these days that are supposed to be a universal day off. They may be entitled to the day in lieu, but I've heard horror stories where that isn't the case either.

When I found out in 2019 that the May Day bank holiday was being moved to coincide with VE Day, it made me feel worthless in some respects. I do not for one second think we should ignore the sacrifice of those who fought for our freedom in the second world war. Yet equally, I do not for one second think that a bank holiday originally designed to celebrate the workers in this country should be denied their one day of the year where it's all about them either. Why on earth could we not have had two bank holidays? Is it really too much to ask to be respected as a worker living now whilst also respecting those who fought and gave their lives 75-80 years ago? Furthermore, why do we not acknowledge VE day every year? Why did it only matter in 2020 and in 1995 (when the bank holiday was also moved to the Friday - I was 10 and will have been totally oblivious to this happening at the time)?

I argue that it is because our politicians as a whole do not appreciate us. Is it a coincidence that in both 1995 and 2020 the government was a Conservative majority? (Yes, the decision was made for 2020 in 2019 under a Conservative minority government - but Conservative all the same.) Thanks to whips and party lines, this is possibly why we have not benefited from an extra bank holiday this year. Yet let's not forget how important it was to have an extra bank holiday in 2011 for the wedding of Prince William and Catherine (which actually kickstarted a four-day weekend as the following Monday was May Day). Nor should we ignore the extra bank holiday we had in celebration of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. Our royal family gets bank holidays in their honour, but the one holiday in our honour gets side-lined without question? (Both announced under a Conservative Prime Minister, it should be noted in the vein of this thought.) There's something amiss with this, surely.

The Guardian article from 2018 makes a strong point for bank holidays to be re-evaluated and for us to honour historic events and movements that hold with them a national sense of pride. Why are our patron saint days in the four provinces not bank holidays in their respective areas? There is a reason those saints are acknowledged in the calendar, yet it's not reason enough to have a day off in celebration or in honour of what they did for their respective province? Subsequently, we have other "celebrations" that could be deemed as more valuable to have a bank holiday for than "Spring" or "Summer". As the article says, the only bank holidays we have that have any meaning attached are the religious Christmas and Easter. And that only matters personally if you relate to a faith of Christian denomination.

We have the lowest number of bank holidays in Europe, according to some. Now that we have left the EU, we may never be on a par with our European neighbours and we may never be given the respect to be given bank holidays where they fall on the calendar rather than being manufactured to fall on a Monday. I can vouch for the fact that not working on a Monday pretty much writes off the rest of the week anyway, so I doubt it really matters that much when we have our days off.

I'll maintain that this week (on paper, notwithstanding current events and restrictions) should have been a three-day week for most of us. As a nation, this is something we need to address - even if it's making government and businesses acknowledge that we deserve these days off to relax and spend time with family. I don't think there'd be much argument to go back to the bank holidays of old where all the shops were shut, no public transport was running and only free to access facilities were there for those wanting to venture beyond their back garden.

Be kind. Stay Safe.

**Disclaimer: Much of my opinion on this matter has been formed in large due to the article from The Guardian in 2018. Before then, I'd never questioned anything about bank holidays in the UK, just moaned about the fact that France gets more of them than we do.**