16 July 2015, The Tablet

Sunday shop closing was once regarded as socially progressive


 
Sunday trading laws will be relaxed,” said a line in The Guardian. It was referring not to plans by George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced in the Budget, but to one of the demands made on Greece by the pursuing Furies of the Troika.This made me sit up, for opening hours are not simply a matter of economics but an embodiment of what seems normal in a culture. For example, in Spain, where I like to potter about, it seems perfectly normal for tobacconists (who, of course, sell stamps) to close at lunchtime, 2 p.m. on the dot.Perfectly normal British Sunday trading laws (full of anomalies) have now been thrown into alarming uncertainty. “Two-faced David Cameron is facing a rebellion from Tory MPs and fury from Keep Sunday Special campaigners,” the Daily M
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