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Aren’t Good Friday and Christmas Day the only bank holidays that coincide with Christian holy days?
I suppose St Stephen’s (Boxing) Day could be added, though virtually every day is some Saint’s day, and Whit Monday could have been introduced in deference to Pentecost
Other than that New Year’s Day was introduced (in England) fairly recently due in the main to half the population phoning in with a hangover sicky; May Day is again fairly recent, introduced (I think) by one of Harold Wilson’s governments to commemorate ‘the workers’ ; and the August bank holiday presumably for no reason other than it would be nice to have a long weekend with the children before the schools go back
Personally I think November 5th should be a bank holiday
No, most are Christian holidays. Good Friday and Easter Monday, Whit Monday/Pentecost, Christmas and Boxing/St. Stephen’s Day. Only New Year, May Day and the August holiday have no Christian links that I know of, but you can argue that May Day is a Pagan holiday.
Where I live we get even more and they’re all Christian holy days.
People working within racing probably find not a lot of free time around major holidays as it is. Banishing their free time to those lost Mondays is not such a good deal if you are given to interacting with your family or the outside world.
I have absolutely no sympathy with that argument whatsoever – if you choose to work in the leisure industry, which is what racing is part of, then you have to work when required, if you don’t like the hours work somewhere else.
How about we shut down television and radio broadcasting on Good Friday so the staff can have time with their families? Television is not life or death – and the same arguments you make about staff in racing could apply to staff in other leisure industries, including broadcasting.
Agree with this 100%.
Plenty of workers have to work on Good Friday- emergency services, airports, petrol stations etc.
The arguments against are from stable staff, jockeys and trainers saying they want a day off and also those responsible for the open days.
This is all self interest typical of racing’s inward looking self interested values. Has anyone asked owners whether they wish their horses to race on that day or the public whether they would come to watch or place a bet? Reality is that racing is meant to be in the entertainment business and should be staged when the public can go or place a bet. If participants can’t hack it then get out and get another job. There are 2 million plus who are out of work and will take their place and plenty arriving from Romania etc.
There is a surfeit of racing and bloated fixture list to a point where some national newspapers won’t print the cards. By all means cut it or have a blank replacement day e.g. a Monday.
The open days can be staged another day.
Anyone who wants to pray can either do so and miss the racing or pray then go racing.
The same spurious argument was put up against Sunday sporting events.We manage fine in the UK. Countries like Irealand and southern Europe are more religious and also manage."Even presuming your ten million is correct, within a population of 60 million it is a minority"
According to sources on the net the percentage of regular church goers is somewhere between 14 and 2o % of the Uk population. That equates to at least 8.5 million people. In a population of 60 million people that isn’t a minority in my book (Unless we’re talking about the literal meaning of the word.)
Literal or otherwise by any sensible interpretation would say 20% is a minority
"People can believe in any mythical superstition they wish – however they do not have any rights to impose their beliefs on others who do not share those beliefs."
Who is suggesting that they do? My point was that racing should reconsider the idea of racing on a prominent religious date. That hardly equates to having anything imposed on racing by anyone else.
Of course it does by not doing something because it coincides with a religious festival is effectively imposing the so called importance of that festival on those who do not believe in it.
It’s simple – race on Good Friday and if Christians do not want to go racing nobody is forcing them – they have a choice.
By banning racing on Good Friday those who do not believe in the Christian myth are not being given the choice to go racing.
Ergo the beliefs of the 20% minority are being imposed on the 80% majority.
Some more from TP:
http://www.racingpost.com/news/horse-ra … t7DaysNews
The fact that there are only 4 days of the year when there isn’t any racing doesn’t really argue much for increasing the number of races.
Secondly, for those moaning about religious beliefs spoiling their days off (I’m not religious btw), please remember that if it wasn’t for those religious beliefs, those wouldn’t be days off work anyway, so no big crowds of people wanting to go to the races! If Good Friday, Christmas, New Year, etc, are just another day in the calendar we should all be at work when they fall during a weekday.
Bank Holidays are an outdated anachronism introduced when there was no protection for workers.
They should have no place in a modern society – it would be very simple to enact a law which states all full-time workers should have an entitlement to a minimum of 35 (i.e seven working weeks) paid holiday a year, including a guaranteed 10 consecutive working days at some point during the year, with an option for employees who do not want to use all their leave to "sell" it back to their employer for a triple rate of pay.
May Day is a Pagan holiday.
As are Christmas and Easter – they were Pagan holidays hijacked by Christians
If trainers/owners feel so strongly that it should not happen, they have the power of veto through making no entries.
"Even presuming your ten million is correct, within a population of 60 million it is a minority"
According to sources on the net the percentage of regular church goers is somewhere between 14 and 2o % of the Uk population. That equates to at least 8.5 million people. In a population of 60 million people that isn’t a minority in my book (Unless we’re talking about the literal meaning of the word.)
Literal or otherwise by any sensible interpretation would say 20% is a minority
"People can believe in any mythical superstition they wish – however they do not have any rights to impose their beliefs on others who do not share those beliefs."
Who is suggesting that they do? My point was that racing should reconsider the idea of racing on a prominent religious date. That hardly equates to having anything imposed on racing by anyone else.
Of course it does by not doing something because it coincides with a religious festival is effectively imposing the so called importance of that festival on those who do not believe in it.
It’s simple – race on Good Friday and if Christians do not want to go racing nobody is forcing them – they have a choice.
By banning racing on Good Friday those who do not believe in the Christian myth are not being given the choice to go racing.
Ergo the beliefs of the 20% minority are being imposed on the 80% majority.
Of course it isn’t. If racing chooses to not have racing on Good Friday in deference to other people’s beliefs how on earth is that one faction imposing its will on another?
As for your ridiculous diatribe about working ten consecutive days etc there speaks someone who has clearly never done a real days work in his life! I’d like to see you hack my job for ten days on the trot!
As for your ridiculous diatribe about working ten consecutive days etc there speaks someone who has clearly never done a real days work in his life! I’d like to see you hack my job for ten days on the trot!
I actually missed a word out there
What I should have said was guarentee ten consecutive working days holiday, so people do get at least two weeks off.
Not withstanding that I don’t see what making personal attacks adds to the debate.,
I would agree with the premise that there is no need for Good Friday racing. It would just lead to a further dilution of quality over a weekend where racing is invariably dismal anyway. I might have known there`d be a bid to stage all weather racing. That says it all
People working within racing probably find not a lot of free time around major holidays as it is. Banishing their free time to those lost Mondays is not such a good deal if you are given to interacting with your family or the outside world.
I have absolutely no sympathy with that argument whatsoever – if you choose to work in the leisure industry, which is what racing is part of, then you have to work when required, if you don’t like the hours work somewhere else.
How about we shut down television and radio broadcasting on Good Friday so the staff can have time with their families? Television is not life or death – and the same arguments you make about staff in racing could apply to staff in other leisure industries, including broadcasting.
Ah Paul, cant you use the day to bring flowers to Margaret Thatchers grave.
Only KiddingHowever, it is worth pointing out that most media outlets do operate on skeleton staff on these days.
I just feel that a lot of these people working within racing dont work to particularly good conditions as it is and I think its not much to ask to leave them some time for families.
Perhaps they might not even want the time off but their wife/next of kin might prefer it.As much as I used to detest Christmas day and Sundays, learning to settle the mind away for the constant need of stimulation is actually not a bad thing.
SHL
May Day is a Pagan holiday.
As are Christmas and Easter – they were Pagan holidays hijacked by Christians
True, but May Day is probably the only one you can argue is still Pagan, with no Christian overtones.
I just can’t reason to add yet more racing to an overburdened calendar. Okay, maybe race on Good Friday and Christmas if the crowds will come, but lose a lot of other days when racing just isn’t viable.
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