That clocks should not go back in winter

[nosswith]

This weekend the clocks go back. Something I object to and would like to see end, at least in England.

Three arguments for doing so used to be made

• dark mornings in Scotland- fair point, now there is a Scottish Parliament and they can decide, there are enough places with two time zones.
• Farming- less people affected now with more mechanisation
• Guy Fawkes Night- I cannot see how one day a year starting with the few celebrations a bit later is an issue.

Since mines, shipyards and factories closed, fewer people start work early, whereas longer retail hours mean more working in the evening. If wfh at least some of the week continues post Covid 19, the numbers going out in the dark mornings will be fewer than before.

AIBU?

@Lockheart

No thanks, I want the lighter mornings back. I don't mind dark evenings.

I feel the same. Regardless of the time zone we're in, we just have far fewer hours of daylight in the winter.

I'd rather have daylight in the mornings than in the evenings.

There's going to have to be a decision made soon anyway, because the EU are going to stop changing. Countries can choose whether to stay on daylight saving time or stick to their standard time.
Whatever Ireland decides to do, either the UK will have to do the same or accept that NI will be out of step with Ireland for half the year, or all year if the UK chooses a different time to Ireland.

YABU - this reeks of Scot bashing

dark mornings in Scotland- fair point, now there is a Scottish Parliament and they can decide, there are enough places with two time zones.

Did you know there is a huge swathe of Northern England, adjacent to Scotland, where there would also be dark mornings?

Anither vote for 'go back and stay back'. I massively value lighter mornings over lighter evenings.

@TheFuckingDogs

YABU - this reeks of Scot bashing

Thought so too.

YABU

Given the choice of having the extra hour of light in the morning or evening I much prefer it in the morning

There is something very depressing about getting up and heading out for the day (work, school whatever) when it is still pitch black

No thanks, I don't want my 10 year old walking to school in the dark! We live in farmland and it's pitch black!

if we were staying in the EU then the clocks wouldn't change again after october one, they've ruled to end it from march next year

As others have said, "normal time" for the UK, as dictated by the position/track of the sun across the sky = UTC = winter time....that (roughly) gives you a equal amount of daylight either side on Noon.

Worth bearing in mind that changing the clocks might or not might cut both ways, especially for kids with long journeys where it might be a case of going to school in the dark or coming home in the dark..

FWIW one dark morning at about 8 AM during one of the "stay on BST trials" in the last 60s I and others witnessed - as best we could because it was almost pitch black.. a nasty RTA at the school bus stop...

I guess if the clocks had changed from Summer time to UTC it's possible the RTA might have happened in the evening, we'll never know...

I disagree with the clocks going back - it causes an increase in road accidents every year. I can cope with dark evenings, but waking in the dark is deeply depressing.

GMT is currently 0900, when the clocks change this week we revert back to GMT, so back to the correct time. So it's the summer months that we are +1 not winter months -1.
And yes, YABU for that reason but also wanting to plunge Scotland, NI and a lot of the north of England into darkness until after 9.

I struggle with the lack of light through the winter. The very worst time of year is the end of October through to the solstice. After that, the light starts to come back - January is an amazing month.

But to be honest tweaking the clocks won't make much difference. In Glasgow in the darkest days of December we get a smidge under 7 hours of daylight a day. It doesn't matter if that daylight starts at 8am or 9am or 10am - it's still only 7 hours. And if you want the daylight to start at 7.30am, that means it's dark at 2.30pm. Whichever way you cut it, it's shite.

June is amazing though, 17 and a half hours of daylight.

How the people in Shetland cope I have no idea. Less than 6 hours of light a day in December.

I think we should just stick with one and stay with it, I don’t care if it’s BST or not I just hate the clocks changing, for parents everywhere it’s a nightmare!

If it's an issue of kids walking to school in the dark there's also an argument for later school start times –teens especially benefit enormously from later start times.

No - the mornings are already dire and we have another 2 months to go to the shortest day. That would mean dark mornings for nearly 4 1/2 months - horrible! Humans are not conditioned to get up in the dark. Darker evenings are easier to cope with as once you are home, you can close it off.

Is walking TO school in the dark any less dangerous than walking FROM school in the dark? because you can't magic up more daylight.

Two days a week my kids don't finish school until 3.55pm. In Nov/Dec it is dark by then. 1000 kids, mostly walking home, in black school uniform, in the dark. Great.

YANBU, but......

After this change it should not change again. Leave it GMT, there’s no need for the change to summertime.

I agree that England in particularly should be a different time zone, in fact I'd say there's been a plan for that for a while...I think they're aiming for 1955 or so?

I do understand the desire for more light for kids going to school. But for me that is the only reason why the clocks going back makes any sense and much as I get it, I can't help feeling that more light the rest of the day would be more useful, including for the kids. I mean, the ridiculously dark afternoons means that after school activities for children become very limited and certainly independence for most is severely curtailed in winter. Exercise etc is less appealing in the dark and I know lots of people - children and adults - who become much more sedentary all round because after school instead of hitting the park or the garden or going for a ride on their bikes or doing a sporting activity it's easier just to go home.

Ditto, pre kids, I used to walk from the City to the station which took about 40 minutes but in the depth of winter, I generally didn't do it in the dark. Not least because as a woman, there were various spots on my walk I didn't want to be doing alone in the dark.

Nope, I loathe dark mornings and find they really affect my mood. Getting up in the dark is horrible.

@CupidStunt2020

I agree that England in particularly should be a different time zone, in fact I'd say there's been a plan for that for a while...I think they're aiming for 1955 or so?

I hate the clock change and can see why the EU is doing away with it. If Norway, Sweden and Finland can cope, I imagine Scotland and the north of England could manage.

As I type this my clock says it's 10.15am. But GMT is 9.15am. So we should stick to that - 9.15am GMT. So we change on Saturday/Sunday and don't play around in March.

Job done

And yes, YABU for that reason but also wanting to plunge Scotland, NI and a lot of the north of England into darkness until after 9.

Absolutely yes, and also Wales, as heading west of the Greenwich meridian line has the same effect as heading north. There's a reason why GMT is our correct timezone.