STORE BEDEDAG (2)

Today is Store Bededag ("Big Prayer Day") in Denmark again. I didn't do much praying, in fact I didn't do very much at all. I had a cycle ride at some point, did some tidying up, and watched the start of the ice hockey world championships.Then I got my daughter to cut my hair in between watching the four episodes of Downton Abbey that I had missed owing to my recent walking tour and trip to Basel. Oh, and I had a couple of the delicious cup cakes that she had made in honour of her boyfriend's birthday.

Store Bededag has been much in the news of late, since the rumour is that the Government wants to abolish it. Not completely; but they are thinking of moving it to a Sunday, which would allow everybody to work an extra day on the Friday they now get off. Getting Danes to work longer is one of the Government's perennial themes, and tripartite discussions on this point between employers, unions and politicians are due to start this summer. The problem though is that Danes show absolutely no inclination to want to work more than they already do, no matter how much of an incentive they are given, what they want is less stress and more leisure time.

Recognising this, moving Store Bededag to a Sunday would in fact be quite a smart political move. Any normal tripartite agreement could easily be voted down by stroppy workers. But changes to public holidays require Parliamentary legislation, which the Government is better able to control. At least Ministers pray that they do.

Walter Blotscher