Our "Summer Time" is going to change

[Drachsi]

The UK government is planning to increase by one hour the "Summer Time" setting, when clocks are put forward, normally by 1 hour, to 2 hours.

The reason is "Tourism Strategy". This means the UK will have the same time as the rest of Europe.

Could this be a way of adopting CET (Central Eurpean Time) without creating problems?

Drachsi
My name is my website.

 

[drounding]

Personally I wish we could do away with daylight savings altogether.

If it affects children going to school in some parts - then simply start the school day one hour earlier/later where it's deemed to be required.

We should be encouraging flexi-time in companies to avoid traffic congestion and so variable start/end times should be the norm.

While we're about it lets also get rid of time zones and have a single time line. We could all use the same clock and just get up and go to bed at our relevant times.

And of course, we should also be changing our time measurement to a metric equivalent such as 1000 units per day.

I'll get the EU law makers on to it - they're bound to agree and pass a law for it for us. For once I might be in agreement with them.

 

[trevorwood]

As with every other time this has been proposed i suspect the farmers & the Scots will oppose it. The Scots have good reasons, although not insurmountable. The farmers I've never understood

 

[Highland Park]

"Same old, same old", IMHO

This was tried in the 1960's. Primary schoolkids in the North of Scotland (me included) were given pathetic reflective armbands as a concession to road safety concerns. As far as I know, both 'Double BST' and the armbands were dismissed then as a disastrous experiments.

Since then, we've joined the EU but any political motivation to use CET cannot change the fundamental problem which is the latitude/longitude range of the country (County Tyrone would suffer as much as Shetland). We cannot alter the geography of the spheroid.

Australia, Canada, USA and others seem to manage quite nicely with multiple timezones in the SAME country so why on earth does our Government feel the need to use the same timezone as our EC neighbours. Parts of Canada and India even manage with timezones changes of 30 minutes.

I hope the UK is not going to make the same mistake as China where a capital city at the far East of the country dictates a single timezone for the entire country.

 

[Highland Park]

then simply start the school day one hour earlier/later where it's deemed to be required

Not practical IMO. Unless you can also persuade all of the employers of all working parents to let them work flexi-time

 

[Deleted member 59730]

This is an idea which will be decided by MPs who are known not to start their working day as early as most of us.

 

[Naughty Vend]

As with every other time this has been proposed i suspect the farmers & the Scots will oppose it. The Scots have good reasons, although not insurmountable. The farmers I've never understood

I think it's a good idea, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west... not south to north and despite the belief that it get's darker in Glasgow before Gloucester we're talking minutes, at the end of the day...

Where it usually gets light at 5am it'll be 6am, where it gets dark at 10pm it'll be 11pm so for the majority this will mean less wasted daylight when you are asleep and more time for Corona and Burgers in the back garden... now that I have to support. So if we this month two hours forward and then two hours back in Winter, great...

 

[HFE Signs]

Why is it every year we have the same debate, I think it would be best to leave the clocks alone and if schools, farmers and whoever else wants to - just go to work an hour earlier and finish an hour earlier… its not rocket science..

 

[Drachsi]

Nobody yet has mentioned the benefits for companies dealing with Europe. As 50% of the UK's export are supposed to go to Europe, would this not be a good reason to support it.

If I remember correctly, there are places in Europe which are a lot more north than Scotland.

Drachsi
My name is my website

 

[directmarketingadvice]

As with every other time this has been proposed i suspect the farmers & the Scots will oppose it. The Scots have good reasons, although not insurmountable.

If the change is to move summertime an extra hour forward, I don't see what those reasons would be.

The opposition in Scotland has been with what happens in the winter.

As I understand it, these plans wouldn't have any affect on that.

If there was a problem with rush hour darkness at either end of Summer Time, they could have 4 switches of one hour each. Two at the current times and two others closer to the middle of the year.

Steve

 

[Highland Park]

Nobody yet has mentioned the benefits for companies dealing with Europe

Maybe you could mention them then please? :redface:

 

[directmarketingadvice]

I think it's a good idea, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west... not south to north and despite the belief that it get's darker in Glasgow before Gloucester we're talking minutes, at the end of the day...

A bit of googling produced this (which, for all I know, is utter nonsense):

Days can seem very short during the winter. In London in late December the sunrise time is after 8am and sunset is before 4pm, so it is only light for about 8 hours. The day is even shorter further north - at the same time of year in Edinburgh it is light for 7 hours and in the Shetland Islands (off the north coast of Scotland) for just 6 hours.

The opposite effect is experienced in summer. In mid-June it is getting light in London as early as 4:30am (if you are a light sleeper you may be woken by the light or by the sound of the birds). Sunset is not until nearly 9:30pm, so it is light for 17 hours of the day. The day is even longer further north - in Edinburgh it is light for 18 hours and in the Shetland Islands for 19 hours.

30-60 minutes either end of the school day may be "minutes", but it would be a lot of minutes.

Steve

 

[Drachsi]

Maybe you could mention them then please? :redface:

Many Europeans start earlier than the British, in Germany and France, many start at 7.00am, but get to finish by 16.00. Great many hours in the sunshine. Here is an example that could be typical,

Europeans in their workplace say 9.00am, by their clock the British arrive at 10.00am one hour lost. Same goes for lunch, Europeans away 12.00am no contact, when the Europeans are back, the British go, so 2 hours lost, then another hour a least in the afternoon.

If you want to telephone, the day is limited from 9.00am to 11.am and from 13.00 until 15.00 a total of 4 hours of being in the workplace, both at the same time, does this make sense?

Drachsi
My name is my website

 

[Highland Park]

Many Europeans start earlier than the British, in Germany and France, many start at 7.00am, but get to finish by 16.00. Great many hours in the sunshine.

Excellent - actually this means that THEY might well consider changing THEIR timezone to CET-1 so as to get more daylight in the evenings. If they did that, would you then contend that the UK should move with them?

"If you want to telephone" ... email works very well for most purposes

You astutely observe that much of Europe lies further North than Scotland; it also lies further East which is the major consideration.

PS : It would be ironic, would it not, if Greenwich itself never used Greenwich Mean Time

 

[Deleted member 59730]

Nobody yet has mentioned the benefits for companies dealing with Europe. As 50% of the UK's export are supposed to go to Europe, would this not be a good reason to support it.

Changing our clocks will have zero effect on exports to anywhere. Its a bit like saying that moving the deckchairs on the Titanic would have stopped it sinking.