No Day of Rest.

Over the weekend, Osborne introduced new Sunday trading laws for the duration of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games.

Under the rulings, there will be no major restrictions on Sunday trading as is the norm in the UK.

The Chancellor stated that with so many hundreds of thousands of people coming to the country to enjoy the games, it would only be sensible to extend opening hours so as these people could enjoy the retail experience too.

Suspension of the Sunday trading laws is due to run for eight weekends from the 22^nd of July.

George Osborne explained his decision in a television interview, stating that “It would be a great shame - particularly when some of the big Olympic events are on Sunday - if the country had a closed for business sign on it.”

Mixed responses have followed the news, with some believing it a celebration of British retail as defined by Westfield shopping complex, whereas others bemoan the legislation as detracting from the small, unique and diverse independent shops that London has to offer.

Relaxing the Sunday trading law is something to be concerned about, however. Mr Osborne also described the scheme as an ‘experiment’ from which the government ‘could learn things about trading’. There is growing belief, with rumours from inside parliament, that should the Olympic trading prove successful, then the laws could be scrapped completely.

Whilst this offers extra hours of retail for large companies, it does not vastly improve lifestyles for those in the UK.

Increased trading hours means that more people will have to be contracted to work Sundays. This will restrict relaxation time available in the weekend, both on personal and familial levels. With more people expected to be in work, there could be in fact a general reduction of shoppers, with people not wanting to spend extra time away from families and other activities, but the Olympics would mask this due to it being an anomaly event.

With no consultation on the matter, longer hours are bound to cause some disruption, but are already being assessed as a long-term plan by the government.

Comparing with European counterpart France, people are either lucky or in suburban Paris should their supermarkets and chains open more than 12 hours in a day; Sunday trading is even rarer. This thought is poignant as the 2012 Olympic bid finalists were London and Paris. France would not relax its laws for the Olympics, especially when they are cultural and religious. The nation just across the channel rests on nationalism and a sense of a day of rest for all.

The UK, however, has lost this perspective and continues to back longer hours and less respite time. Concerns have shifted from the personal and wellbeing, to material and capitalist gains. Only in reversing this trend can we see an increased national satisfaction. Happiness doesn’t come from shops, but in our time spent together.