National Day without division

The raison d'être of a National Day is to promote unity. Almost by definition it is the day on which consensus has been reached to bury differences and unite as one nation, one people.

We have five national holidays, one of only five countries with more than one National Day (the others, as far as I can make out, are Bosnia-Herzegovina, India, Pakistan and Poland; apart from the latter, the list speaks for itself).

Our national holidays, unfortunately, instead of promoting unity actually promote, or at least bring out, division - a division that a prominent former politician has described as "disgusting"; a strong term, unhappily reflecting reality. There is even, we have recently been told, a formal agreement to exclude people with opposing political views from attending official National Day functions.

It is time we found the political maturity to agree on one National Day. If our recent past has given occasion for division, perhaps we can look a little further back to our glorious historical past. We were happy enough with September 8, for decades on end.

I doubt anyone can argue effectively that this day is an occasion for fostering division and consequently a reason for it not to be our National Day.

By all means retain the other four as public holidays. I would go a little further, not only retain them but designate the Monday closest to the day on which they fall to celebrate them, rather like the Bank Holiday concept. That way one can maximise on one's free time without disrupting productivity.