'Should the clocks go back?' Poll discussion

springheeledjack

another pointless archaic rule.

MKB

I am too young to remember the 1968/71 experiment, but we should remember the world was a different place then. We had limited tv and radio channels, and they were all closed down each night by 23:30; pubs chucked out at 22:30; nightclubs never went beyond 02:00. In short, we were a nation that went to bed a lot earlier! There's a good argument that the UK time zone needs to shift to match the sleeping patterns of the modern-day lifestyle of the majority.

That said, is there actually any problem with the current GMT+1 zone that we use during the summer? I don't see any reason to change the March to October arrangments.

In December and January, it's pretty miserable at one end of the day whether you go for GMT or GMT+1. The safety and environmental arguments seem to favour GMT+1, so I would go for that, at least for England and Wales.

In early November and in February and March, there's quite a lot of daylight to go round, and these are the months where a switch to GMT+1 can have the biggest effect on improving evening daylight, stealing the hour from the morning at a time when most people are asleep.

So I would say:
- Give the Scots and Northern Irish the right to choose their own time zone;
- In England and Wales, either stick to GMT+1 the whole year, or, if we must have GMT, restrict it to Nov 21st to Jan 21st.

bbruce

It's a pity there wasn't an extra voting button for adopting CET which makes a lot of sense to me but I had to vote for BST which at least delays the summer sunrise until 4am.
Western Australia trialled daylight saving time but gave it up last year after voters rejected the idea in the fourth referendum by 55.5 per cent to 44.5. I can see their point as they are much closer to the equator so the variation is less than ours.

MoJo

Is time real?

We're on the Meridian, I think we should stick with GMT and let the rest of the world do as it will.

JJ7

While it may seem like a good idea I don't think it works.

I remember them trying it out before. It was awful, I seem to remember more children being injured on the roads while travelling to school. I know the mornings were really really dark. And I don't even live in Scotland.

So mainly for the sake of schoolchildren my vote is a definite NO!

slorimer

MKB wrote: »

So I would say:
- Give the Scots and Northern Irish the right to choose their own time zone;
- In England and Wales, either stick to GMT+1 the whole year, or, if we must have GMT, restrict it to Nov 21st to Jan 21st.

Apologies from a newbite but, I have to remind people that all these variations on summertime, or keeping the same time all year round, isn't legally possible.

European Directive 2000/84/EC makes summertime from March to October a requirement for all EU countries with only exceptions for "overseas territories"... maybe that is Scotland...:laugh:

So, we have to pick a time zone (the options are GMT and CET), and that time zone must have summertime included. So yes, the MSE "vote" is a bit misleading.

cptncanary

MKB wrote: »

I am too young to remember the 1968/71 experiment, but we should remember the world was a different place then. We had limited tv and radio channels, and they were all closed down each night by 23:30; pubs chucked out at 22:30; nightclubs never went beyond 02:00. In short, we were a nation that went to bed a lot earlier! There's a good argument that the UK time zone needs to shift to match the sleeping patterns of the modern-day lifestyle of the majority.

That's a good point; the world has changed in 40 years, with a lot less manual workers travelling to work, etc.
Most school children in my area, get driven to school, so the possible risk there amy have reduced, in some areas.

rpb

Bizarre - people can't get up early enough so they demand the clocks change! "Noon" should be when the sun is overhead (on average)! Why mess with that? Clocks shouldn't go forward in summer! Greenwich Mean Time for me! :-)

dickieg

Its a great idea to have lighter evenings as we will all be saving on electric bills by not having to have lights on so early

stevemcol

We in the UK hold the historic privilege of providing the time datum for the rest of the world (GMT). We shouldn't just abandon it because we'd like a bit more sunlight in the afternoon.

My working day, like many people is roughly 8 til 6. It doesn't matter how we tinker with the time: in mid winter it will always be dark at home time; if the clocks go forward an hour it will be dark in the mornings as well. Worst of both worlds.

I'd have GMT all year. It would still be light until 9 in the summer and the sun would rise at a reasonable time on winter mornings.