The advent of Guru Nanak is the next stop on the multicultural calendar

Kittler

As a youth in Scotland, when it was a more devout land, I worked on Christmas Day, along with everyone else, as it was not a holiday and not much celebrated. Further back in time when Scotland was a very Christian country celebrating Xmas could get you into serious trouble.
So, to return Scotland to its traditional Christian heritage can it implore the authorities local and national to ban Xmas.

Guru Seacole Nanak

Unnnnnff!!!! Gnrrrk. Gnualsssslp. Thwarrrp. let met out of HERE!!! Now!

The REAL Mary Seacole

Oh, you spoilsport, Rod. Let the kids have their day off - it will provide employment for additional 'theft prevention' security guards in the region's shopping centres. Everyone's a winner!

Ross

How about a day off for Mary Seacole's birthday?

toby forward

One complicating factor is that those children given the day off to celebrate the festivals of their non-Christian faiths will almost certainly do just that, while the children given time off to celebrate Christmas and Easter will almost certainly not do that. I'd rather they had time off for Eid and Guru Nanak's Birthday than for the gluttony and avarice that happens at the ned of every December.

workie culti ticket

I'm not sure whats going on with Waltham Forest Council. About 3 years ago they brought in an extra day for G Nanak but dropped it the following year. There are very very few Sikhs in the Borough, less than Jews in fact, but those brave councillors know that to suggest a day for them would result in a huge burden to the ratepayers in providing 24hr protection to those who advocated it in, what I affectionately used to call, 'The home of the British Jihad'. I wonder why they have then decided to re-instate a day for the #1 Guru. WF is the sort of place you read about where carol singers are moved on for 'health & safety reasons/objections' usually helpfully pointed out by members of the 'religion of peace' Maybe the multi-culti Bible (no offence intended to Christians or non-christians)has been consulted and WF have been reminded that in WF Sikhs are a minority and therefore need to be officially celebrated. It wont add to the inconvenience in WF as it will merge into the traditional 2 month Oct/Nov forework bombardment residents endure already.

Ottoseacole Empire

Your good neighbour Hobson reports on healthy irreverence among Christians, mentioning the camp antics of the Anglo-Catholics.

As umpires in the Great Multi-Culti Communal Love-In would it not behove our councillors to pursue more robustly their impugnable duties with a modicum of common sense?

Shakassoc

@Ross:
Shouldn't that be Mary Seacole Seacole?

Peter Seacole Simple

Alderman Foodbotham, iron-chained, grim-faced, granite-booted Perpetual Chairman of the Bradford and District Tramways Committee, has opined that all these additional holidays stipulated by soft southern local authorities can only result in weakening the moral fibre of their youngsters.

When the Alderman was asked by a BBC 'spokesperson' if he was considering adding the name 'Seacole' to his own, he declined to comment.

Ned of December

What's wrong with an occasional bit of gluttony and avarice?

workie celebratory ticket

...and another thing... one could write voluminous screeds on the NuLiebour successes in WF but I am particularly tickled that their new Cabinet Education Supremo is one Liaqat Ali - a man charged 2 years ago, while Mayor, with illegally taking his daughter out of school on a pilgrimage.

Mr R Seacole would be aghast to learn that WF also managed to have a Black History Month once where in all the wonderful events listed, absolutely no historical figures or events were celebrated - not even any nurses or that bloke in Haiti (or somesuch place) who lead a slave rebellion.

Amazonian Seacole Rainforest

When will we have a day off for school children celebrating Charles Darwin's birthday for god's sake?

Or would evolution and its god-denying perfidy be unacceptable in dark ages Walthamstow?

Born to Seacole Guru

Incidentally, it will be a relief when October-Black-History-Month-celebrating-diversity is over and we can go back to shorter and more sensible names.

Or is this seacole business a wheeze of more permanent intent?

Noa Zrk

Only after the most careful consideration I have concluded that the councillors of WF, fair from being politically correct, are, though they may not have realised it, are in fact being exceptionally prescient and far sighted. We are moving towards a workless society and are preparing for this by this by the abandonment of teaching before the age of six and the extension of the minimum school age to 18. This goes some way to erode the extension of the period of unemployment that our children can now look forward to between 18 and 66, when they will be able to draw their pensions. The extension of holidays in school for festivals of all religions is not only creates numerous and annually recurring opportunities for free play and personal creativity, It will enable many teachers, my own good Mrs Zrk included, the ochance to catch up on her varius repairs and household chores. Meanwhile the children can appreciate the diverse multi-cultural pleasures of sun and tree worship, Aztec and Inca sacrifice, perhaps even sampling their own blood eagle.

Alan Scott

How about a year off (only for the Houses of Commons and Lords)for Gordon Brown's birthday- immediately.

A J Scott

yes, Mr Zrk, and burn a few books, sack a few synagogues and mosques as well. And burn down the Houses of Parliament and all those in it.
Don't be backward, now.

Dixon

I guess some smart Alec will ask what day we have for aetheists ( today, Ludos Death Day is as good as any I guess ) but WHO will speak up for my persuasion, Existentialist Nihilism.

When will we see this great "spiritual" path recognised in an official holiday on some sensible realists birthday, maybe Sartre, if not Nietsche.

Noa Zrk

A J Scott
I reiterate that ourhildren should certainly be encouraged to be bold and experimental in their free play, in addition to re-creating Chrystallnacht, as you propose, perhaps a few experimental crucifixions would assist in their history and woodwork studies? I draw the line however at the reading of seditious material, works such as Gordon Brown's "Boys Book of Economic Management" and "On Courage", Jaquie Smith's "Ethics for non Essex Girls", and "My Husband and Aye-aye!", and the definitive and gripping "Constituency Voter Appeasement", by Jack Straw.
Of course tearing up or burning any of the above in the wrong place, could earn you an ASBO at the least.

Walthamstow Woodman

Well, whatever happened to tree-worship, in the name of all that's holy? Epping Forest, from which its name is partly derived, must still have a few specimens standing.
Can any leaf-clad green persons suggest a suitable date?

Linda Smith

I notice that no Jewish holidays are included although Jewish children outnumber Sikhs in one of the boroughs. I wonder why.

rod nanak liddle

Because the council people there don't like Jews, I would suspect, Linda. I know it's a fairly simple answer but I can't think of a better one.

Biggy

I too stopped by to raise my figurative eyebrows at the exclusion of Jewish holidays amongst all other major and numerically minor religions and observers.

Dixon

"Linda Smith
October 19th, 2009 10:54pm
I notice that no Jewish holidays are included although Jewish children outnumber Sikhs in one of the boroughs. I wonder why.
rod nanak liddle
October 19th, 2009 11:23pm
Because the council people there don't like Jews, I would suspect, Linda. I know it's a fairly simple answer but I can't think of a better one."

The question I have long wanted answered is "why are images of pigs and references to pork only banned from or by certain councils on behalf of a growing minority of Muslims yet never before on behalf of a long established population of Jews?"

Our local council made a pub landlord change the name of his car park ( formerly a butchers ) from "the pork yard" on pain of ASBO and a threat to send him to prison in response to a complaint from two Somalis staying at a refugee hostel up the road.

Yet representatives of the British Board of Deputies invited onto a BBC debate were not long ago famously served ham sandwiches in the Green Room.

I know the BBC and my local council are not the same entity, or even in engaged in a conspiracy, but both reflect the same highly selective cultivation of cultural sensitivities and I think you can see the point.

No doubt the Somali refugees also wanted the pub to stop serving alcohol too. Well, give them time and that, also, will happen.

Austin Barry

I keep banging on about it, but 'multi-tribalism' is a more honest, if bleaker, hyphenate than 'multi-culturalism' with its benign implications of, say, cheerful ethnics in their native dress dancing in celebration of lovable deities.

Carl

Guru Nanak looks a cheerful soul. Perhaps he could dress in red and like our beloved Monarch have a birthday and another official birthday, say on December 25th?

The Puppet Master

If memory serves wasn't Guru Nanak the guy whose two sons were killed by muslims? He considered what he should do for a long time, then decided to go and kill the muslims. It might be another of the Guru's though, when I was at school one wasn't taught about other religions, one had to visit Amritsar, or go to a library and take out a thing called a book.
Books were things that people who were curious about the world, sort of opened, then sort of flicked their eyes across these little things called words, then by some sort of magical process they knew about stuff.
How we used to live!

Any Seacole for a quiet life

Oh, by the way, kids, there's no school,on March 26th - it's Richard Dawkins' birthday!

workie ex-Walforest ticket

Crikey!!! - I type all that tip-top and ultrarelevant local colour up and it disappears into the ether. Just like missives to local plod and MP.

mostly harmless

no holidays apart from what we have already, kids could always do a bunk if they wanted a day off.

RogerDodger

"realize"?

Surely that is "realise"?

Did we move continent without being informed?

funny

im indian and i think liddle is hilarious and always makes a good point.