The End Of GMT?

[Stooo]

The government is considering moving the UK's clocks forward by an hour for a three-year trial period.

Ministers are writing to counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to seek a UK-wide consensus on a trial.

It would see the UK adopt Central European Time, with BST plus one hour in summer and GMT plus one in winter.

But a spokeswoman for the Scottish government said its "established position" was that there was "no case for a change to existing arrangements".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15490249

A bloody good idea IMO. I'll be driving home in the dark next week!

[zedward]

it has been tried and dispensed with before so why bother?

[Fenella]

I'd like to see an end to all this clock changing. Moving the clock forward an hour in the spring makes little difference to me because it's lighter generally then anyway, but moving them back an hour in the Autumn is too much because it's already getting darker earlier and then it suddenly gets darker an hour earlier.

This new idea sounds like a lot of messing around though.

[Guest]

I'm sure the rabid tabloids would just lurrrve to be on Berlin Time

[I hated that show]

Daybreak is much better with that Bleakley bird

[ravy]

Changing the clocks is a waste of time!

[wutang]

I'm sure the rabid tabloids would just lurrrve to be on Berlin Time

Imagine their reaction to being on Mecca Time

[Guest]

Stupid idea. Leave things as they are. It's what we're all used to anyway and this way, we don't disadvantage any part of the country any further than they already are by the current situation.

To those of you who currently enjoy lighter mornings than the northern half of the country, just enjoy it for what it is. Likewise, those of us who have longer summer evenings see that as a trade off for longer darker mornings in winter. I don't particularly want it to be 10am before it gets properly light. That's the sort of thing that Shetland Islanders contend with already. Is it really fair to make it even later in the day before they see any proper daylight in winter?

[Ellie-Jane]

I see no useful purpose to changing the clocks as we do at the moment and removing the stupid system would be a great idea. It should have been done years ago.

[Stooo]

On this very subject....


Don't forget to put your clocks back this morning if you haven't already done so

[Cannydc]

The whole point is that we only get a set amount of daylight, no matter what the clocks say.

Shunting them back and forth is a completely pointless exercise. The people of Shetland simply move an hour of daylight from the end of the day to the beginning. If they have a problem with it not getting light until 10am, they can simply move things like school times BACK ONE HOUR to suit.

Much simpler them doing that than the whole of the UK having to shift to suit them and a few Scottish farmers.

[Guest]

The whole point is that we only get a set amount of daylight, no matter what the clocks say.

Shunting them back and forth is a completely pointless exercise. The people of Shetland simply move an hour of daylight from the end of the day to the beginning. If they have a problem with it not getting light until 10am, they can simply move things like school times BACK ONE HOUR to suit.

Much simpler them doing that than the whole of the UK having to shift to suit them and a few Scottish farmers.

When they left it as it was in the 60s the accident/death rate rose because of accidents in the am rush hour, which was dark.

[Fenella]

The whole point is that we only get a set amount of daylight, no matter what the clocks say.

Shunting them back and forth is a completely pointless exercise. The people of Shetland simply move an hour of daylight from the end of the day to the beginning. If they have a problem with it not getting light until 10am, they can simply move things like school times BACK ONE HOUR to suit.

Much simpler them doing that than the whole of the UK having to shift to suit them and a few Scottish farmers.

When they left it as it was in the 60s the accident/death rate rose because of accidents in the am rush hour, which was dark.

Didn't that just shift the incidence of road accidents to the afternoon/evening instead?

[Guest]

The whole point is that we only get a set amount of daylight, no matter what the clocks say.

Shunting them back and forth is a completely pointless exercise. The people of Shetland simply move an hour of daylight from the end of the day to the beginning. If they have a problem with it not getting light until 10am, they can simply move things like school times BACK ONE HOUR to suit.

Much simpler them doing that than the whole of the UK having to shift to suit them and a few Scottish farmers.

No,it's not as simple as that. It depends on where you are located in the British Isles. The further North you go, the fewer hours of daylight you get in the winter months. So Shetland has fewer hours of daylight in winter than London does. In the depths of winter it is around only 6 hours they get.

[Cannydc]

It is exactly as simple as that.

6 hours of daylight in midwinter equates to 9am to 3pm.

So either kids go to school in the dark, or come home in the dark.