Enforced holidays

One would think now that with all of the economy in the state it is there could be a new approach to the whole bank holiday thing. At a busy time I am now faced with 4 whole days off in a row. Not a good time. Yes, one can argue that all work and no play blah blah blah but actually being forced off work at a bad time does not lead to relaxation but piles the work and the worry up either side of the days off.

We should change for a new model. A simple change to the law would mean that people should be given the bank holidays to take at their leisure. I.e. legal holiday time. It can't be rocket science to protect employer abuse (lowering standard holiday entitlement to include the free days). Much nicer. It would also mean that lots of us could take time off when it is not so busy, holiday spending and demand would be smoothed and the costs lowered.

I would prefer also to take my bank hols when the weather is better. Why do we have to take our bank holidays all at the same time? A smaller step from complete freedom would be to allow an employee to take off the appropriate number of bank hol Mondays and Fridays as they prefer.

I don't see any downside and in hard times the flexibility would be welcomed by a lot of people.