St Georges day holiday

I think most folks will have worked out that it's Phil by now, Drew.

Personally, I think St George's Day as a bank hol is a fab idea. We simply don't celebrate our national identity enough in England and the majority are actually sheepish about our homeland. I don't see that elsewhere i.e. Scotland, Wales and Ireland who are all staunchly patriotic.

In Dublin recently, all of the cab drivers knew their Irish history and were proud of their cultural heritage and we should be too. We are a proud country, regardless of our ethnic roots.

I agree with H about generalising too much. When there is a population of 60m+ built up from around the world then this image of an arrogant nation that's built on a past of Empire and invading our immediate neighbour's homelands is massively out of date and I'm surprised that many still think of the English in that way. Maybe it's the footie troubles abroad that keeps that image alive....sadly...

Its another day off to get pi**ed and rant about immigration and 'it' being my country. No one celebrates some Arab guy lancing a dragon.

I can honestly say that linking another Bank Holiday with rants about immigration is something that wouldn't even enter my head. You are on a different agenda, somewhere along the line and a strange one. If people were going to sit around getting p****d and ranting about iimmigration, I suspect they would do that anyway and not need a bank holiday as an excuse.

Incidentally, both Arab countries and China are loaded with patriotic traditions and customs and are no less proud of their heritage than we should be.

The big question is:why have a bank holiday for St Goerges Day or this national Day,the two the same I pressume? It has to be political, or commercial..

Why not just celebratory and for shared pride in a country? Why does it have to be 'commercial'?

I do that everyday of my life when I walk in that lovely park. We DONT need to tell the word we are English because the world already knows who we are and wants to be us. Its called pride.

I am kind of with Phil on this one...of the people I have personally heard talking about making St George's Day a holiday, the impression I get from them is that it would be a way for white British (although it is only even IMPLICIT) people to make a point of excluding non-white British from the event.

I may have overlooked it but i have yet to see one of the more politically central papers advocate St George's day as a holiday, yet we all know which papers continually bang the drums about it

Theres racism in every society including ours. It was much more prevalent in England in the 60's and 70's than it is now. Look at football - the kick out racism in football initiative has virtually wiped out racism. People are intolerant to racism now.

Theres always going to be a few that try and spoil the party, a state of utopia only exist in books. But it isn't a reason to not have a day when we celebrate our national day.

I agree with the Wormster. I've never read such a load of old tripe. It's another day off, for Lordy's sake. Connecting St George's Day with racism is utter drivel.....IMHO

Incidentally, most of us who aren't waiting for an excuse to don our KKK outfits in England, complete with pointy white hoods and holes for eyes, usually try and find somewhere to take the kids out for the day, avoiding very long traffic jams and overcrowded theme parks.

But people would be happy with an extra bank holiday for any reason. Doesn't really matter whether its for St George's Day or Trafalgar Day or just because it would be nice to have a day off work sometime between the end of August and Christmas (it always depresses me to think it''s so long till the next bank hol at the beginning of September).

And theres the point. Its a day off work we are really talking about and hoping for.

Ziggy! wrote:

And theres the point. Its a day off work we are really talking about and hoping for.

Indeed, in my experience, it's only those who want to make an issue of race who demand that it should be for St George's day.

Yugoslavia disintergrated when Tito was retired and nationilist days for each ethnicity were reinstated. Im English, I know I am and thats fine with me.

fizzywizzy wrote:

Ziggy! wrote:

And theres the point. Its a day off work we are really talking about and hoping for.

Indeed, in my experience, it's only those who want to make an issue of race who demand that it should be for St George's day.

Absolute rubbish.

St Georges day bank hol should replace an existing bank hol so no extra time off would be gained. 99.99% of people want the day off to celebrate being English, nothing to do with race whatsoever. Like I said earlier, the government should have a referendum on the issue.

WormThatTurned wrote:

fizzywizzy wrote:

Ziggy! wrote:

And theres the point. Its a day off work we are really talking about and hoping for.

Indeed, in my experience, it's only those who want to make an issue of race who demand that it should be for St George's day.

Absolute rubbish.

St Georges day bank hol should replace an existing bank hol so no extra time off would be gained. 99.99% of people want the day off to celebrate being English, nothing to do with race whatsoever. Like I said earlier, the government should have a referendum on the issue.

Just out of curiosity, what things about being English do you wish to celebrate? And in what was do you propose to celebrate them?

WormThatTurned wrote:

fizzywizzy wrote:

Ziggy! wrote:

And theres the point. Its a day off work we are really talking about and hoping for.

Indeed, in my experience, it's only those who want to make an issue of race who demand that it should be for St George's day.

Absolute rubbish.

St Georges day bank hol should replace an existing bank hol so no extra time off would be gained. 99.99% of people want the day off to celebrate being English, nothing to do with race whatsoever. Like I said earlier, the government should have a referendum on the issue.

It's not RUBBISH - I'm reporting the the way i have heard the subject discussed amongst people I have heard speaking in favour of making the day a Holiday.

Some points:
1. What a terrible and silly waste a referendum would be. Referenda are expensive and surely for things tht really matter.
2. I reckon that most of the people that are in foavour of making it a holiday would think twice if it meant SWAPPING with another holiday and not getting an extra day off work
3. We already have May Day on which day throughout England lots of English traditions are celebrated already. Why do we need another day to do this?

fizzywizzy wrote:

[
Some points:
1. What a terrible and silly waste a referendum would be. Referenda are expensive and surely for things tht really matter.

This does really matter.

Why does it?

http://www.bombardier.co.uk/bombardier/promotions/petition

I've posted a handy link for you fizzy

Please could you outline it briefly because i am not allowed to view that link from this computer

A link to a petition campaigning for our national day to be made a national holiday. 106, 000 names so far - it's just waiting for yours

You didn't explain why its important.

And 106, 000 is hardly the whole country coming out in favour is it? We get 55,000 at St James PArk every other Saturday, all coming out to support a hopeless cause too.

fizzywizzy wrote:

You didn't explain why its important.

I believe this country is a fantastic country. I am proud to be an Englishmen. I think a national holiday on our national day is a great opportunity for people to celebrate our country.

fizzywizzy wrote:

And 106, 000 is hardly the whole country coming out in favour is it? We get 55,000 at St James PArk every other Saturday, all coming out to support a hopeless cause too.

The petition isn't very old plus you can't expect everyone to have heard about it. I only found it by chance.