Not in Office Life (and some Morris Dancers)

Three cheers for the Armed Forces. They do a really great job, going to places we don't want to go to and doing things we don't want to do. And they might die. They deserve all possible credit. So hooray for Government plans, outlined on this webpage, and all the efforts of Quentin Davies, the MP, who has made it his business to cheer on our servicemen and servicewomen.

The trouble, surely, is that the people who run to lifeboats are heroes too. And firemen, police officers, doctors, nurses, and teachers. If soldiers deserve a special day for public recognition, surely all these other group do as well? We should also appreciate the voluntary workers - mums and dads, neighbours and friends. There are plenty of people working in the private sector who deserve praise for improving the lives of others.

Besides, the services have a special day set aside for them already. You might argue that we could do more to make Remembrance Day special. I, for one, would not mind giving up a Bank Holiday in spring. The onset of winter would be much more bearable with a late autumn break. A day, perhaps formalised as the second Monday in November, would be a good time to show gratitude and respect, recall the sacrifices and do what can be done to avoiding needless repetition of earlier mistakes and evils. There is no place for a day that glorifies war, as a Trafalgar Day might. But a suped-up Poppy Day? Yes please.

While showing appreciation of those who fight, we could also try harder to enjoy the peace that they and their predecessors have created, restored and preserved. At the (servere) risk of sounding unbearably clerical, the biblical associations of Whitsun (nominally, if not accurately, commemorated in my part of the world with a long weekend) is a good excuse to celebrate peace. Or go Morris dancing, as is apparently traditional at Whitsun (see video clip).

And that leaves everyone else free to give everyone from car park attendants to potty-trainers a jolly good slap on the back on each of the other six Bank Holidays. And what Bank Holidays were really invented for. Not remembering people or things, but having fun.