Save Me…… from shuttered shops on Sundays and public holidays

Look, I’ve been thinking. Over the past few weeks I’ve been grumbling about the banks and general strikes and unemployment and the state of the Spanish economy.

I’ve been a bit po-faced about it, I think, and to be honest, probably a bit of an armchair revolutionary. All talk and no do.

That’s not to say I’ve changed my mind. I haven’t. But while I’ve been suggesting all sorts of radical action to tackle the myriad of problems people here face, it was a news story I saw this week which got me thinking about what could perhaps be an even more radical plan. And one that could have almost immediate results too.

The news story I’m talking about is one in which the British think tank The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) suggests that scrapping all public holidays would boost the UK economy by an extra £19 billion a year.

While they don’t explicitly suggest that they should all be scrapped, they do suggest that they should be “spread out” a bit more so that businesses aren’t hit all in one go. I guess having too many holidays all together is terrible for business as it means the poor people get to have a day off and the fat cats can’t earn another million as quickly as they’d like to.

Of course, their suggestions are idiotic. As a GMB union spokesman so aptly put it “We could send kids down the mines again too and go back to working six days a week again.”

So where does Spain fit into all this?

Well, let’s put this in perspective. In an average year, the UK has eight public holidays - two at Christmas, one at New Year (or two if you’re in Scotland), two at Easter, two in May and one in August. This year, because of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, everyone gets an extra one in June too.

Wow. Nine public holidays this year. That’s a lot.

Except if you live in Spain. If you live in Spain, right now you’re saying: “Nine? Is that it?” Only nine??!”

For in Spain, there are a minimum – yes, a minimum - of 13 public holidays. Let’s count the ones in the Seville area alone (as different parts of the country have different extra days).

There’s January 1, then there’s January 6, then we wait a little bit - but not much - for January 23 when there’s a local holiday. Then we have to wait a whole four weeks for another holiday on February 28. After that, we’ve got two days at Easter, which this year was April 5 and 6.

However, Easter Week in Seville is when all the processions take place and a lot of people take extra time off work then as well. Next there’s the big Feria week in Seville at the end of April – more about that next week – with most people in the city taking several days off. After that, we have to wait a massive four days until the May 1 holiday.

I haven’t finished yet.

While the next official holiday is August 15, during July and August many businesses cut down their hours or close up as the long, hot summer kicks in. After that, we have to wait until October for the next holiday, which comes on the 12^th. Then there’s another one on November 1, then when you get close to Christmas, you have one on December 6 and another on December 8.

This, in itself, is daft, because, as happened this year, those days fell on a Tuesday and a Thursday, which meant that lots of people actually took the Wednesday off as well. Why not? I would.

Then, of course, we come to Christmas, when perhaps surprisingly, only December 25 is a holiday, not December 26.

So what’s my point? Am I suggesting that those CEBR morons are right? That maybe there are too many holidays and the poor workers have far too much time to themselves.

No, it’s far simpler than that.

When there’s a holiday in the UK, most High Street shops are open (except on Christmas Day). It makes sense, doesn’t it. If you’re on holiday, you want to go out and spend your money on stuff. Even on Sundays, the vast majority of shops are open too. Sundays are pretty much as busy as Saturdays. And with the tills ringing, the shops do well and the economy picks up.

Except, that is, if you’re in Spain.

With the exception of Madrid and a few other places, when there’s a public holiday all the shops are shut. What’s the point of that?? You’ve got all these people on holiday with cash to spend and nowhere to spend it.

Even on Sundays virtually no shops are open in Seville. Now, I know what you’re thinking. Seville is a strongly Catholic city and Sunday is a special day.

No it’s not. While the majority of people might call themselves Catholic, the figures show that only a minority of people actually go to Church every week. The rest are all down the bars getting pissed and eating tapas, as they’re the only places that are open on a Sunday.

So, that’s it. Open the shops on public holidays and on Sundays, let the people in to spend their cash, the shops take more money, shop workers have the – voluntary – chance to earn extra wages, the businesses see their turnover go up and everyone’s happy.

Look, I know what I’m saying is all a bit new for some people. I get it. It’s a bit of a culture thing here. People have never really done it. It might be more difficult for smaller shops to do it. It would all be a bit strange and unnerving and you’d have old people saying things like: “It wasn’t like that in my day. Youngsters today, it’s all wrong, the country’s going to the dogs blah blah blah.” No doubt, some of the more religious lot would get their knickers in a twist over it too. They’d probably claim that shops opening on a Sunday or a public holiday would mark the onset of godlessness, devil worship and Satanic sacrifices across the country or something like that.

The irony is that the only time when shops do open on a Sunday in Seville is in the lead-up to Christmas! The very time when we’re supposed to be celebrating the birth of the bloke who said in the first place that Sunday was a day of rest.

Opening on a Sunday and a public holiday will not precipitate dark times. As we all know, that hasn’t happened in the UK. They’ve had Sunday trading for nearly 20 years and they’re not godless heathens worshipping at the foot of false idols (unless they’re credit cards of course). They’re doing ok, apart from the odd Summer riot here and there.

So, what about it? I know that in several parts of Spain the restrictions on Sunday shopping have been loosened in recent years. It’s just that a lot of people don’t take the opportunity offered.

If the boycott of the banks and the rolling general strikes don’t work, at least in the short term, then maybe this will.

It’s just an idea.