Why can't the clocks go forward now?

[Itisnoteasybeingdifferent]

Half past seven and it is broad daylight.
Which means that a new time of half past eight would be safe for going to school...
Yet we have to wait in the dark evenings...

We are past the solstice by much the same time as the clocks go back before. Why is winter deprssion still forced on us?

[tabulahrasa]

Depends where you are...it's not quite light here at 5 to 8.

[Ifailed]

There's quite a range of sunrise times in the UK. For example:
Inverness: 08:22
London: 7:41
Belfast: 8:18

etc.
Personally, I'd be happy if we just stuck to GMT all year round, so 12:00 was always midday.

[stillpinching]

I don't get the obsession with light evenings in the middle of winter. It's not properly dark until gone 5 here now, which is fine imo. Who wants the light when it's grey and freezing cold? I like being able to draw the curtains and feel warm, rather than sit looking out at a cold, flinty sky until 7pm. We need a bit of light in the morning to get going.

[AllTheBabies]

It's still dark at half 7 here (scotland). That's when I walk the dog and it's definitely not light! I like it in the winter because I can go out in my pyjama trousers and nobody can see

We leave to walk to school at 8.15 so it the clocks changed now we'd be doing the whole walk in the dark.

[Andrewofgg]

We have for many years changed the clocks at the same time as the EU and that makes sense and I hope it continues after Brexit. It usually coincides with the change in the USA too. It would be ridiculous to change.

[Itisnoteasybeingdifferent]

Tabula,
Assuming that you are somewhere north, changing the clocks now would mean it is light at nine for going to school.

I am simply asking if the clocks go back two months before the solstice, why don't they go forward two months after mid winter?

As to light in the evenings, it is also abiut sarmth in the morning.

[VeryBitchyRestingFace]

I need my shades in Glasgow at the moment.

slight exaggeration

[Ifailed]

FrancisCrawford

if we stuck with GMT, then for me 21st June would be sunrise at 5:44 (so plenty of light for early birds) and sunset at 22:16, so could sit out in the evenings with a book and bottle(s) of wine.

[Itisnoteasybeingdifferent]

Francis,
Yes indeed GMT is better for most of the land area.., but unless I am much mistaken, grass and mountains don't nother much with time It's peopple who use clocks and it seems reasonable that we should do what is best for the vast majority of the population.

Changing the clocks the same number of weeks before and after mid winter is the best compromise allowing for people who live way up north.

[tabulahrasa]

"Assuming that you are somewhere north, changing the clocks now would mean it is light at nine for going to school. "

Primary schools start at 8.50, secondary at 8.35, no-one is leaving at 9, not even if they've got a short walk to school.

It's not just children walking to school either, it's roads in general, add in darkness to icy mornings and you've got more likelihood of accidents.

[Iknowyouwontlikethis]

I thought it had always been done...to do with farming...no?

[AllTheBabies]

Maybe Scotland could keep what we have seeing as it works for us (there may not be many of us in the "grass and mountains' but believe it or not we do exist!). If England wanted to change their clocks then go for it.

"What's better for the vast majority of the population" seems to be more about not liking the dark than it is about safety.

[Andrewofgg]

We tried year-round summer time in 1968-1071 and it did not work; ridiculously late sunrise in the North and scotland and even more so in NI.

And as for changing the time at Gretna: ffs. This is nothing to do with nationalism, Brexit, or even Donald bloody Trump. It makes no sense in a country as (geographically) small as this to have two time-zones.

[EustaceClarenceScrubb]

My kids leave for school at 7.45, it is only just about light at the mo. I would not like them to be leaving for school in the dark. We are SW BTW.

[RustyBear]

Summer mornings and it's light well before 5am and stays light till after ten. With GMT that would be light before 6am and dark after 11pm which is much more sensible.

GMT puts the clocks back not forward, so it would be light before 4am and dark after 9 pm

[TheCustomaryMethod]

Noooo! Bad enough that they have to go forward in March! I agree with pps - year round GMT would make far more sense.

Not light where I am till 8am at the moment. I hate having to wake up and get out of bed when it's dark.

Light evenings in midsummer are a waste of time - it's temperature that determines how long you stay outside, not light.

[AllPowerfulLizardPerson]

Don't more school run accidents happen in the dark evenings?

Or have I just imagined that?

[Basicbrown]

I am simply asking if the clocks go back two months before the solstice, why don't they go forward two months after mid winter?

I don't understand this and never have. But 2 months after the shortest day would be the end of Feb not the end of Jan.

[Buttwing]

I actually like the dark mornings it means my toddlers sleep until 7 in the summer they wake up with sun

[TheNaze73]

YANBU. It really pisses me off. We cannot be on permanent BST

[Fluffyears]

In Glasgow in the depths of winter it gets Dark at 4pm which is horrible. I got to work in the dark and come back in the dark and feel zombie like.