The pleasure that many people have of a two bank holiday weekend is not matched by people who work in the retail sector. However the majority of them have the opportunity at this time of year to be able to take today off as the one Sunday in the year when due to the two Bank Holidays, that most major employers close down for today. However the health services, and our emergency services or the police who are protecting society from problems don’t get quite the same opportunity. My gratitude for the chance to have a few days off knowing that our hospitals are working and our police and fire services are available is huge. Let us hope that the acute problems experienced today in Sri Lanka are not repeated elsewhere, although there will be many more people killed in other locations that are so familiar with death and destruction that we rarely hear about it on our news lines.

Thank you to all the people who are working today to keep us all safe, and let us hope that our grasp of the violence and war across the world along with our understanding of how much risk our environment is facing is strengthened as many of us enjoy a few days away from the usual routines we face.