Happy Darwin Day!

9.00.00am GMT Thu 12th Feb 2009

Happy Darwin Day from the Lib Dem Humanist and Secularist Group!

The Liberal Democrats Humanist and Secularist Group would like to wish you all a Happy Darwin Day, on the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth.

Over 40 MPs, including 10 Lib Dems, signed a recent Early Day Motion calling on Parliament to make Darwin's birthday - 12th February - an annual public holiday. The motion read as follows:

That this House notes the extraordinary achievements of Charles Darwin; notes that 2009 marks both the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species; welcomes proposals for the creation of a Darwin Day in recognition of the ground-breaking work of the British scientist responsible for the theory of evolution by natural selection; and calls for Darwin's birthday, 12 February, to be designated a public holiday in honour of one of the fathers of modern science and one of Britain's greatest, if not the greatest, scientific minds.

You can find out more about Darwin Day by visiting http://www.darwinday.org