Monday is the August Bank Holiday – at least in England and Wales, where it is the
last weekend before the schools go back. In Scotland, the schools break up earlier (traditionally, so the kids could join in the work of lifting potatoes in the fields) but have already gone back.
The August Bank Holiday is just one of eight permanent bank holidays in England and Wales (along with New Year, Good Friday and Easter Monday, the Early May Bank Holiday, the Spring Bank Holiday in late May, Christmas Day and Boxing Day). In Scotland there are nine – an extra day at New Year and St Andrew’s Day to replace the August holiday). Northern Ireland has ten, which include St Patrick’s Day and the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. Throughout the UK there will be an extra holiday on 5 June 2011, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
Bank holidays are a barbarous relic and should be abolished.
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