Make today a public holiday

The relatively low number of public holidays we have in the UK compared to some of our European counterparts (though not to our workaholic US ones) has long been a bugbear of mine. Given the inevitable opposition of the "business lobby," it's not something you could ever have seen the current government doing much about, but maybe the next one will show a more enlightened approach.

As an English patriot, one of the days I would like to see made into a public holiday is today, April 23 - St George's Day. There's already a campaign group lobbying for this which has had a link on this blog for some time, along with a Downing Street petition on the issue which can be signed HERE.

Other additional public holidays I would like to see include January 2. This has long been a public holiday in Scotland, which begs the question why the Scots need a day longer to recover from the New Year's Eve hangover than the rest of us do.

We should also have an additional holiday around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday (usually the third Saturday in June) which, as well as encouraging proper respect for the Monarch, would also be far more likely to yield decent weather than the current holidays in April, May and late-August.

There is no longer an alternative

This speaks for itself. For those not in the know, it was the David Miliband campaign blog.

Why Miliband has made the right decision

We have become accustomed in this country to politicians who make mealy-mouthed statements which don't actually mean what they say and which allow them just enough leeway to wriggle out of.

I suppose the most famous example was Michael Heseltine's declaration that he "could not foresee the circumstances" in which he would challenge Margaret Thatcher, allowing him to launch just such a challenge when the previously unforseeable circumstances actually came about.

So I applaud David Miliband's decision this weekend to deliver an unequivocal statement that he will not challenge Gordon Brown for the Labour leadership.

It's no less than confirmation of what he has always said, but it represents a victory for political plain speaking that Brown himself would do well to take note of. More on this theme later....

That apart, I have no doubt that Miliband has made the right decision, and I explained why in my weekend column and acompanying podcast.

If you can't be bothered to read or listen to it all the way through, a potted summary might read:

He's too young, too inexperienced, and too lacking in gravitas.

He doesn't need the leadership at this stage of his career, and will get a big job under Gordon anyway.

A Miliband-Brown contest would have split the party and perpetuated the Blair-Brown feud into the next generation.

Brown is the best leader to take on the shallow PR man Cameron.

Today's Guardian speculates that either one of Reid or Clarke will still stand, and I share that judgement. Reid v Brown in particular would be a good contest between two men of genuine Prime Ministerial calibre. But neither he nor Clarke can win.

All of which suggests that it's all over bar the shouting.