systemd is all you need

Wait, do other countries not do this? So if a public holiday falls on a Saturday it doesn't get pushed to Monday?

but the UK has the fewest public holidays in Europe. In Germany we have 9-13 but don't get a day off if a public holiday is on a weekend. And we have a minimum of 20/24 days of holiday on top

This is true for all public holidays in the UK, there's a (usually) fixed number of public holidays but the dates are flexible.

They're also included in the minimum 28 days paid time off too, meaning if you're a full time worker and have to work on a bank holiday your employer is legally required to offer an extra day off somewhere else instead, either a fixed date or added to your holiday allowance. Conversely, the "extra" day off you get when a monarch keels over may be subtracted from your holiday allowance for the year. This is also why my employer is allowed to follow English bank holidays despite having next to no presence in England; the number is fixed but the dates are not.

Awesome!

Same for lots of jobs here.

Honestly, Wednesday and Thursday are the worst days for Christmas for those of us who also get Christmas Eve because they're the only days that don't result in 4 days in a row off from work.

If it's on a Friday, we get Thursday through Saturday. If it's on a Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, they give us Friday through Monday, and if it's on a Tuesday, they give us Saturday through Tuesday.

But this year, we're off Saturday and Sunday, work Monday, are off Tuesday and Wednesday, and return to work on Thursday.

It's the same total number of days off, but it's way less useful - especially if travel is involved.