Comedic "things you would ban": minor things that irritate you

[The exile]

Time to make Trafalgar Day (= 21st October) a UK public holiday?

I'd be more tempted to put the August BH back where it used to be (1st Monday in August) and find an excuse to put an extra one in towards the end of September.

 

[Gloster]

Time to make Trafalgar Day (= 21st October) a UK public holiday?

This has been a somewhat repetitive refrain from the Conservative Party over the years, wishing to celebrate Britishness, particularly an occasion when we stuffed the French, combined with a wish to replace the Socialist May Day holiday. They seem to be continually surprised that people are not enthusiastic about exchanging a holiday at the beginning of the good weather, or what passes for good weather in Britain, with one when the clocks are about to go back and winter is approaching.

EDIT: Corrected that the clocks haven’t gone back by 21 October, but are about to, in last sentence.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

... what passes for good weather in Britain, with one when the clocks have gone back and winter is approaching.

Have the clocks actually gone back by 21st October?

 

[Richard Scott]

This has been a somewhat repetitive refrain from the Conservative Party over the years, wishing to celebrate Britishness, particularly an occasion when we stuffed the French, combined with a wish to replace the Socialist May Day holiday. They seem to be continually surprised that people are not enthusiastic about exchanging a holiday at the beginning of the good weather, or what passes for good weather in Britain, with one when the clocks are about to go back and winter is approaching.

EDIT: Corrected that the clocks haven’t gone back by 21 October, but are about to, in last sentence.

From a school point of view October is better than May as exams approaching in May and sometimes important classes missed due to May Day and, yes, one day does matter before anyone starts on that one!

 

[Gloster]

From a school point of view October is better than May as exams approaching in May and sometimes important classes missed due to May Day and, yes, one day does matter before anyone starts on that one!

I am not going to disagree with you, but most people will judge it on what the weather is like for a day off: most will see May as better than October. Even those with children at school will probably still say, “Oh, it is only one day…” (Public schools may see it differently: mine just ignored it when it was introduced in 1978, the only year I was there after it started.)

 

[The exile]

From a school point of view October is better than May as exams approaching in May and sometimes important classes missed due to May Day and, yes, one day does matter before anyone starts on that one!

From a school point of view, if one day matters that much, something has been going very wrong for the months, if not years, before.

 

[Merle Haggard]

This has been a somewhat repetitive refrain from the Conservative Party over the years, wishing to celebrate Britishness, particularly an occasion when we stuffed the French, combined with a wish to replace the Socialist May Day holiday. They seem to be continually surprised that people are not enthusiastic about exchanging a holiday at the beginning of the good weather, or what passes for good weather in Britain, with one when the clocks are about to go back and winter is approaching.

EDIT: Corrected that the clocks haven’t gone back by 21 October, but are about to, in last sentence.

May Day celebrations in Britain go back a long way (? Romans) - they celebrate the beginning of Summer.
Dancing round the May Pole doesn't have any Socialist connections as far as I can see.

 

[The exile]

I bet this one’s been on here before but - meaningless (or even untrue) platitudes on public notices. “… and we are working hard to fix it” on a defective hand dryer at Bristol TM. Err, no - if you were really working hard it would have been fixed / replaced within 24 hours. If it’s so specialist that it has to wait till the only fitter in the country is free, then put the date and time of the appointment on the notice and provide a substitute till then - that’s “working hard” - everything else is pathetic excuses.

 

[Techniquest]

From a school point of view, if one day matters that much, something has been going very wrong for the months, if not years, before.

I think you’re right, something is clearly not right in the education system. I recently passed by a primary school near Merthyr Tydfil which had a banner outside which caught my eye for literally eyebrow-raising reasons.

Apparently, 5 minutes late equals 9 days of learning lost (I think it was 9 anyway, something like that if not), where 15 minutes late equals something like 21 days of learning lost.

Are things really that tight in the education system, or indeed perhaps so poorly scheduled, that a mere 5 minutes equates to a significant amount of the school year lost?

 

[Statto]

Here's one, pointless road signs, were complete rubbish is written on them, & not only that, they clutter up the side of the roads too.

Sign not in use, why not just cover the sign up

Any more out there?

 

[The exile]

I think you’re right, something is clearly not right in the education system. I recently passed by a primary school near Merthyr Tydfil which had a banner outside which caught my eye for literally eyebrow-raising reasons.

Apparently, 5 minutes late equals 9 days of learning lost (I think it was 9 anyway, something like that if not), where 15 minutes late equals something like 21 days of learning lost.

Are things really that tight in the education system, or indeed perhaps so poorly scheduled, that a mere 5 minutes equates to a significant amount of the school year lost?

Maybe the idea is “5 minutes every day” . What certainly does cause more disruption than most people realise is their little darling being taken out of school unannounced for a holiday /single day. “Oh - it’s only a day or two” - ignores the fact that for much of that day “little darling” is a vital part of a group / is going to miss something that means everyone else is going to be slowed down later.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 31 Mar 2026 ==

Here's one, pointless road signs, were complete rubbish is written on them, & not only that, they clutter up the side of the roads too.

Sign not in use, why not just cover the sign up

Any more out there?

Yes, add A-boards placed at junctions where they obscure drivers’ sight lines. (Applies to pedestrians too - the number of “polite stand offs” Ive had where we’re both waving each other on. I can’t pull out because you’re blocking my view, so please cross in front of me!)

 

[Gloster]

May Day celebrations in Britain go back a long way (? Romans) - they celebrate the beginning of Summer.
Dancing round the May Pole doesn't have any Socialist connections as far as I can see.

I am not sure if May Day celebrations in Britain, or at least England, go back to Roman times but they do go back at least several hundred years; they go back further in parts of Europe, particularly the northern parts. It is seen as a celebration of the approach of summer, something that gets more understandable the further north you get.

The socialist connection is due to a decision of the International Workers Congress in Paris in 1889 to create a day for demonstrations by workers for better conditions. The date was chosen to commemorate the start on May 1 1886 of a general strike in the US that ended with the Haymarket affair, a case of violence on both sides ending in judicial murder.

The date has gone on to keep its socialist and labour associations, but the older beginning of summer ones largely dropped away until revived in recent years. The socialist association is the one that many Conservatives seems to object to, even though it has been watered down by moving the British holiday to the first Monday in May, rather than specifically May 1.

 

[The exile]

The date has gone on to keep its socialist and labour associations, but the older beginning of summer ones largely dropped away until revived in recent years. The socialist association is the one that many Conservatives seems to object to, even though it has been watered down by moving the British holiday to the first Monday in May, rather than specifically May 1.

As an official holiday, it wasn’t moved. It has been on the first Monday in May since its inception in 1978 (under a Labour government).

 

[Gloster]

As an official holiday, it wasn’t moved. It has been on the first Monday in May since its inception in 1978 (under a Labour government).

Sorry, I meant that although it was introduced by a Labour government, they chose to have it on the first Monday in May, rather than choosing May 1, the date specifically associated with the labour movement. In some ways, by having it on the first Monday, it is more in line with the ‘coming of summer’ celebration, but that hasn’t stopped the critics.

 

[Richard Scott]

From a school point of view, if one day matters that much, something has been going very wrong for the months, if not years, before.

It does matter when exams are that close.

 

[martin butler]

May Day celebrations in Britain go back a long way (? Romans) - they celebrate the beginning of Summer.
Dancing round the May Pole doesn't have any Socialist connections as far as I can see.

It's actually pagan, like many of the things we celebrate, to do with the birth of summer and fertility, it started to become an event around the 1400's but has roots to pagan times when we worshiped trees, nature etc.

 

[AM9]

Time to make Trafalgar Day (= 21st October) a UK public holiday?

No, not a 'wrap yourself in the union flag and wallow in the glory of past achievements' holiday. It smacks of Latin-American dictatorships' pompous calendars.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 31 Mar 2026 ==

It does matter when exams are that close.

Not judging by the number of 'in term' absences taken for family holidays just because it is cheaper then.

 

[rmHawk765]

Apparently, 5 minutes late equals 9 days of learning lost (I think it was 9 anyway, something like that if not), where 15 minutes late equals something like 21 days of learning lost.

The education system currently focuses on attendance and nothing else.

Essentially they are telling sick people to go to school (who oftentimes won't be able to concentrate) so they can make more people sick, reducing overall attendance. Sounds great, doesn't it?

 

[Bald Rick]

It does matter when exams are that close.

I disagree.

When exams are that close, all the learning is long since done, and students are well into the recap / revision stage.

The May Day holiday is well known and everyone knows when it is. Including those responsible for scheduling work within planned lessons. I can’t imagine a scenario where work gets missed because the bank holiday comes as a surprise.

 

[Techniquest]

The education system currently focuses on attendance and nothing else.

Essentially they are telling sick people to go to school (who oftentimes won't be able to concentrate) so they can make more people sick, reducing overall attendance. Sounds great, doesn't it?

Madness. A lot of employers are like that too so I guess at least it prepares children for the working world!

 

[35B]

From a school point of view October is better than May as exams approaching in May and sometimes important classes missed due to May Day and, yes, one day does matter before anyone starts on that one!

My youngest is doing A-Levels this year; the impact of the May Bank Holiday will be absolutely minimal. It's built in to the timetable and well known, while the cohort are very deliberately being told to pace themselves as they prep for exams. The academic year started in September and if their timetables are that sensitive to one Bank Holiday, then there's a whole lot else gone wrong. The same was true at GCSE.

As for "one day does matter", I've lost count of the number of days' teaching that my kids have lost due to non-examination activities in their schools when the syllabus time's been added up over the years. And because of the workings of timetables (especially 6th form), that tends to hit certain subjects particularly hard. Pupils work through it, and it averages out over time.

 

[Bald Rick]

The education system currently focuses on attendance and nothing else.

That is absolute rubbish, sorry.

The primary concern of schools is the safety and wellbeing of those who are enrolled.

 

[35B]

That is absolute rubbish, sorry.

The primary concern of schools is the safety and wellbeing of those who are enrolled.

Parent and serving primary school governor here. Attendance stats are critical to how schools are assessed, and the approach frequently does go beyond just safety and well-being. @rmHawk765 significantly overstates the case, but there are good reasons why many feel that way.

 

[The exile]

It does matter when exams are that close.

What you don’t know by then….

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 31 Mar 2026 ==

My youngest is doing A-Levels this year; the impact of the May Bank Holiday will be absolutely minimal. It's built in to the timetable and well known, while the cohort are very deliberately being told to pace themselves as they prep for exams. The academic year started in September and if their timetables are that sensitive to one Bank Holiday, then there's a whole lot else gone wrong. The same was true at GCSE.

As for "one day does matter", I've lost count of the number of days' teaching that my kids have lost due to non-examination activities in their schools when the syllabus time's been added up over the years. And because of the workings of timetables (especially 6th form), that tends to hit certain subjects particularly hard. Pupils work through it, and it averages out over time.

So-called “non-examination activities” will include some of the most important things children will ever learn (often without realising it). OK - not all of them.

 

[35B]

So-called “non-examination activities” will include some of the most important things children will ever learn (often without realising it). OK - not all of them.

Some of them are. I think it flatters others to suggest that - but I agree that they are a part of the wider school culture.

 

[The exile]

Some of them are. I think it flatters others to suggest that - but I agree that they are a part of the wider school culture.

Half joking - but I remember someone saying that one of the most important “social rules” schools taught was “self-control when bored stiff”. Not that they’d ever admit it….

 

[Falcon1200]

I'm not a socialist but have no objection to the May Day holiday, whatever the reason behind it, but it does mean that in England there are two public holidays in May but none in June or July, or until nearly the the end of August. Unfortunately the birthdays of Churchill (November), Thatcher (October) or Queen Victoria (also May) would not be any better....

 

[Merle Haggard]

snip

So-called “non-examination activities” will include some of the most important things children will ever learn (often without realising it). OK - not all of them.

I passed the 11+ as a child from a council estate. Our teaching at the "Town & County Boys' School' was not strictly to the exam syllabus and, as. a result, I didn't do as well in 'O' and 'A' levels as perhaps a crammer school would have produced. Some of the exam questions covered topics that we hadn't been told about.

We were also taught how to learn - I don't know if this is still taught. Perhaps this counts as 'non-examination activities.

BUT, i all gave me a wider knowledge of the world and life though, for which I am always grateful. Talking to younger people I know - some of whom unlike me lasted at University to passing final exams - I'm sometimes surprised by gaps in their general knowledge and even in current affairs. Perhaps, though, my greater knowledge was from later life, where being taught how to learn was useful.

As an aside, the best 'non-examination activity' for me was at half-terms, where the school Railway Society arranged a shed bash in a hired Commer minibus driven by our Chem. master. Happy times.

 

[Richard Scott]

Not judging by the number of 'in term' absences taken for family holidays just because it is cheaper then.

That's another issue in its own right. Yes it does make a difference.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 31 Mar 2026 ==

I disagree.

When exams are that close, all the learning is long since done, and students are well into the recap / revision stage.

The May Day holiday is well known and everyone knows when it is. Including those responsible for scheduling work within planned lessons. I can’t imagine a scenario where work gets missed because the bank holiday comes as a surprise.

I do love this forum, you have experience of something you've been doing for years then someone comes along and tells you you're wrong.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 31 Mar 2026 ==

What you don’t know by then….

Every little helps!

 

[Bald Rick]

I do love this forum, you have experience of something you've been doing for years then someone comes along and tells you you're wrong.

Well, opinions differ. Certainly the teachers I know (including the Heads of three large secondary schools, all rated Outstanding) have the same opinion as me.

But you are quite right about this forum’s strength, ie someone having experience of something for years, and someone else comes along and tells you that you‘re wrong!