No holiday for patriotism, UK govt decides

The British Government has decided that patriotism is no holiday.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Government has shelved a proposal for a new public holiday to celebrate Britishness, one of a series of ideas intended to promote social cohesion and combat extremism.

"Britain Day" has been championed by Brown and was proposed in a Government-commissioned report earlier this year.

But Constitution Minister Michael Wills told MPs in a written statement to Parliament last week, "There are no plans to introduce a national day at the present time."