If we didn’t change the clocks ?

[KangarooKenny]

Where would it stop, BST or GMT ? And what would be the advantages/disadvantages ?
Every year this gets moaned about but nothing happens, a bit like the 6 week school holiday.

People forget it's not just about Scotland. Where I am in Cumbria it doesn't get light until around 8-8.30 in December. Change to BST all year round and that would be 9-9.30. Then my kids would be walking to school in the dark at the height of rush hour. At least at the end of the day it doesn't start to get dark until about 3.30-4pm so the kids are normally home by the time night falls, plus they are not walking home in rush hour.

These debates are always southern focused. Though I have to say, I've never understood the farmers complaints. Surely they do their work based around the animal clocks who have no idea what time it is?

I hear the farmers out in the fields in the dark winter mornings and summer nights, they have big lights on the tractors.

I can remember the years we had the experiment of staying on BST, although I was only a kid.

There was a big campaign about wearing reflective stuff to go to school, nearly all kids walked then. It was a bit strange.

The entire worlds time is based on Greenwich mean time, the line that passes through Greenwich. Before the railways came different parts of the country had different times, based on the sun a midday and where abouts you were.

I do enjoy the burst of lighter evenings in the spring but in reality there is no extra day light, clock time is a man made illusion.

I’ve never known any farmers to care tbh, stuff needs doing when it needs doing, doesn’t actually matter what time it is.

so no clue why people think farmers complain about it.

I'd much prefer GMT year round. Hate how light it stays till so late in the summer evenings.

The point being it would be dark even later in the morning. Say it gets light at 8am if we don't put the clocks back,, after a few weeks it will be dark at 9am. I don't understand why people don't understand this.

I think we have the right plan tbh. If we stayed in GMT then the sun would be coming up at 3am in the summer and if we stay on BST then it’s dark until 10am which is horrendous for our circadian rhythms. I know people struggle with change but it really is the best system.

Agree to disagree. Nothing worse for me that having to leave for work in the morning in darkness

Central European Time changes its clocks too. Sometime in the late 90s / early 00s they agreed they'd change on the same dates across Europe last Sunday in October and last Sunday in March.

I really being on holiday before that we changed clocks when we arrived, changed on the Sunday, changed when we got back and changed to GMT the next weekend. How to confuse!

But in reality there is no extra daylight, clock time is a man made illusion

Absolutely @Nolongera I tried to write something like that on my post but could not articulate it.

This is very true. However in the dead of winter we have around 8 hours of daylight.
The choice is do we want those hours 8am-4pm with midday at 12.00 or 9am-5pm midday at 1pm.

I can see a huge benefit to having that hour and slightly better weather at 8am when people are going to school and work.
By 4 kids are home, who would actually benefit from an extra hour of light between 4-5pm? Adults will still be at work

Oh absolutely @Dinoteeth and I too am a fan of GMT 😊

It's just that the way some people talk (not specifically on this thread) you'd think the short days are caused by the clock change.

Totally agree; i hate it.

Usually the argument is regarding the Scottish who have much shorter days.
By the time the SNP gets their way and Scotland is independent then that argument will go

If you mean Scotland could have its own time zone, that would cause a lot of hassle.

I'm happy with the change but if we were to pick one I would prefer GMT.

Yes 100% this
Can never understand the fuss over the clocks changing. Many many other countries do it for the same reason.

In the UK BST (UTC+1) changed to GMT (UTC)

Central European time CEST (UTC+2) changed to CET (UTC+1)

GMT and UTC (universal time coordination) are the same time. Around the 1970s GMT became a time zone, UTC is the time standard, although because of is history some, especially in uk and us, still refer to GMT as the standard.

I don't get why we have to change the clocks/time when in all the arguments it's the 'doing things' that the changes are needed for, so why not change them to suit instead?

Eg, if schoolchildren in Scotland really need lighter mornings to walk to school then say from October to whenever all schools in Scotland will run from 10-4.30 instead of 9-3.30. Workplaces will need to compensate of course but they already are unwittingly when the clocks change. Farmers on the other hand could carry on normal schedule if that suits them better.

We need to get into the habit of life/school/work being adaptable and changing as needed instead of stupid shit like changing the time.

yes, early to mid-90s different countries changed on different Sundays in the autumn. Germany used to change at the end of September for example.

The US doesn’t change clocks (where they change as not all areas do) until next Sunday so for the coming week it’s only a 4 hour time difference to the East Coast.

Surely that would cause alot more disruption.

I hate dark mornings and dark evenings/afternoons but given a choice I would opt for dark mornings.

In the morning if it is dark at least it gets lighter. In the afternoon it just gets darker and is bloody depressing. Nothing cosy about it whatsoever.

I love the light mornings and evenings in summer. I could happily live with it light 24 hours a day. I love Sweden in the summer when it never properly gets dark

Thanks @Survey99 that's a brilliant explanation!

I don't understand why the change is not symmetrical around the year. We switch to GMT+1 at (nearly) the spring equinox when we get 6 hours to daylight before midday, and 6 after it.

However we delay going back to GMT by a month, autumn equinox is 21st September, which means we spend a whole month with shorter mornings.

Why?

Well of course it would cause hassle. But NS likes to show that Scotland is 'different' and can make its own decisions. A bit like in Covid when it didn't matter what she did as long as it was different from Downing Street.

Now we have had Brexit we don't need to tie in clock moving dates with the EU either.

As a staunch remainer that is - literally (and I mean literally in the proper sense of the word) - the only good thing about not being in the EU.