To think St Georges day should be a public holiday?

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Or should I just be ashamed to be English?

Well there you go then, Coffeecrazed, clearly case proven.

I think we should have St Albans or St Columbia as the patron saint of England. St George never visited England.

My preference would be to have St Albans as the patron saint of England and to have another bank holiday on St Albans day.

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I dont care if its St Hilda Ogden day as long as its a day for celebrating being English and proud of it. Rather than cowering away and apologising to all and sundry for just being the English that we are today. I really admire the Scots, Welsh and Irish. They are so patriotic and to hell with what anyone thinks of it. I admire thier spirit.

I really feel sorry for the English. Many seem to equate patriotism with racism and you know, that's really, really sad.

They should be proud of being English and have a chance to celebrate that without being labelled bigots.

I've never seen the like, tbh.

Ahhh thanks ExP. We are not all Sun reading BNP voting pigs. Some of us are alright actually...

presumably we are still recovering from having and dismantling a pretty darn big empire, though, Expat. Post-colonial guilt?

Maybe the Americans will be a bit backwards in coming forwards a few decades after the Chinese take over as top nation.

I like St G's because it's the Valentine's Day equivalent in Barcelona (being their patron saint - G I mean). Men buy women roses (or in my case 'random bloke behind the counter in McD's gave me a rose') and women buy men books. This smacks of such horrendous sexism - women appreciate floral beauty, only men can read?!?! - but I still like it.

St. patrick's Day where I live a steamroller led the parade, the Active Retired Club was the biggest crowd. And we waved our flags nonetheless. St George needs a Day like this.

I fail to see what American patriotism has to do with this thread, other than some British like to take pops at them ?

It's most curious, I find, particularly among the English, as patriotism is far from an American-only phenomenon. Some even appear quite vindicitve about it.

It's alive and well in most other nations - I mean, drive around a student area of Edinburgh and see plenty of Aussie, Kiwi and S. African flags flying from flat windows.

Many French, Italian and Spanish flags, too.

Many of these nations have colonialist pasts as well, yet they don't seem encumbered by this very strange sense of shame that seems to affect England when it comes to patriotism.

I just find it sad that English patriotism, and people being proud to be English no matter what their ethnicity, seems to be seen as shameful bigotry by quite a few.

How sad when a person cannot help being born English, so why shouldn't they be proud of that?

There's certainly nothing wrong with it, and they are not responsible for what their history is.

I would vote for any day to become an extra Bank Holiday

I'm just waiting to see if the Google Home page honour St George's Day, the same way that they do St Davids, St Patrick and St Andrews. Last year, 23rd April went unnnoticed.

I've already ordered a red rose button hole from the florists and I will wear it with pride.

They won't rule for a bank holiday, because its too near the other 4 that we get during April and May! (assuming Easter is April and not March, that is!)

No, not St G's day as we already have two in May and have Easter. Plus the point that I am part English, Scottish and Irish and live in the UK and not just England.

I'd vote for Remembrance Day as that's probably more relevant to our history, more shared that St G and we need more time off at that time of year.

Why does England have such an irrelevant patron saint? We get a bum deal.

Well, he is also the patron Saint of Scouting and I will be going to a St Georges Day parade with the Scouts tomorrow, so thats better than nothing I suppose!

To me it is not about having another bank holiday - I just wish it was celebrated and enjoyed more openly.

no becasue some years its far too close to Easter. We need a "Day of National Unity" (or insert patriotic day of your choice) say in October.

in England but not in Wales or Scotland. Trouble is you can't have 3 new bank holidays and it would be wholly inappropriate to make on Saints day a bank holiday and not the other. Pick a neutral day and then everyone is happy.

Why is St george's day that important?

I'd love to see a Public Holiday on St. George's Day - purely for selfish reasons though - it's my wedding anniversary!

YABU, bank holidays should be scrapped. The days 'lost' should be added to the statutory holiday allowance which means that people would use the days at a time that suits them, not when they're told to.

Aimsmum 2nd Jan is one isn't it?

For the first time ever, our local village is a wash with St George's day flags, banners etc. We even had a small village fair today, which was run by the Local Lions club . It was just such a shame the weather wasn't that great , as they had obviously put a hell of a lot of work into the day.

I think it should be a BH aswell, and it actually might encourage people to recognise the day a little more than it is now , plus i'm always up for an extra reason not to go to work

FGS

Maybe not a public holiday then - just celebrated inearnest in the homes and working environments all over England. What about that?

I dont care about a Union day - the same as I am bot bothered about being European. I would just like to celebrate the fact that I am English.

Well then do. In Wales we do. In schools in Wales they make a big deal of it, people celebrate, wear daffs, wave flags.

If you want to celebrate it then do. But don't impose it on the whole of the UK.