Monday, May 01, 2006
Bank Holiday: Do we need them today?
Bank Holiday were introduced under the Defence of the Realm Acts before World War 1.
Their sole purpose was to help banks have days off. This obviosly meant that no other form of trading could effectively take place until the next day.
(Wikipedia definition)"Bank holidays are so called because they are days upon which banks are (or were) shut and therefore (traditionally) no other businesses could operate. Legislation allows certain payments to be deferred to the next working day."
But do we need them today?
Many businesses are open anyway, although the vast majority do pay double the wages for working on a Bank Holiday.
Are Bank Holidays necessary or are they another thing from the past that we should look to scrap?
Their sole purpose was to help banks have days off. This obviosly meant that no other form of trading could effectively take place until the next day.
(Wikipedia definition)"Bank holidays are so called because they are days upon which banks are (or were) shut and therefore (traditionally) no other businesses could operate. Legislation allows certain payments to be deferred to the next working day."
But do we need them today?
Many businesses are open anyway, although the vast majority do pay double the wages for working on a Bank Holiday.
Are Bank Holidays necessary or are they another thing from the past that we should look to scrap?
# posted by Daniel Snowdon @ 7:35 am 
