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Coronavirus

23rd Feb 2021

People are calling on the government to make June 21st an official bank holiday

Wayne Farry

Should June 21st be a bank holiday? Yes, quite frankly

After close to a year in and out of lockdown, we have an end date in sight.

Prime minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday his four-step roadmap out of the coronavirus-enforced lockdown, with a phased approach that will see schools reopen on March 8th and, eventually, an end to all legal restrictions regarding social contact by June 21st.

Say what you want about the wisdom of offering the public tangible dates to cling to, but that’s what has been done, and as such every single on this rock is now looking forward to the summer equinox as the day we can finally, comfortably and without fear hug our mates and return to something resembling the normality we had before.

In fact people are so excited that thousands are now calling on the government to make Monday, June 21st an official bank holiday to mark our exit from the pandemic.

Currently on just over 2,000 signatures, the petition to give most of us the day off work on June 21st needs 10,000 to get an official response from the government, and 100,000 to be considered for debate in parliament.

We don’t like to editorialise but, obviously, it would be amazing if June 21st was made a bank holiday because, like all of you, we would also like the day off. So do the right thing and sign it.