Letter: Give us a break from holiday nonsense

Is it time for a debate in respect of all the different Scottish public holidays that occur during the year? There are 50 million people south of the Border and they are quite able to have the same public holidays, whereas the five million north of the Border have their holidays spread over several different Mondays of particular months.

As a shopkeeper, the abuse I and my staff have to endure on the Tuesday after a local holiday is becoming unbearable. My staff are legally entitled to a certain amount of statutory holidays, however, as the Scottish public holiday are not advertised in the same manner that the English holidays are, the general public are confused as to why we are not off on the English public holiday but are off on a local Scottish public holiday. It is rather frustrating to repeatedly answer the telephone on an English public holiday to be asked the same question: "Are you open today?"

Wouldn't it be far simplier if all of Scotland had the same statutory holidays to save confusing our "understanding" general public. As there are so many different Scottish local holidays, the Benefits Agency does not recognise them, so claimants in Scotland do not recieve their benefits early as those in England do. Surely, this has to be a clear case of discrimination. Our "Scottish" banks have now aligned themselves to the English holidays, along with many other national companies, making it even more confusing for the general public.

The historical significance of the more common Glasgow or Edinburgh holidays are now unknown to the modern generation. I'm not advocating Scotland having the same public holidays as England but our own set of singular public holidays that represent our unique cultural heritage.

CALUM GREENHOW

Main Street

West Linton,Peeblesshire