To ask if we can stop dicking about with the clocks?

[ThirdElephant]

Just that, really. I'm up at 4:30 for the second day in a row because of this clock nonsense. Changing bedtime is not adjusting wake-up time, just resulting in a tired infant. Can we all just leave the clocks where they are from now on?

Honestly listen to yourselves. With all that is bad happening in the world and you’re worried about something that is sooo minor. Oh the entitlement

Seriously changing school times would have so many consequences its really not that simple. People take holidays during school holidays, out of school care starts at 9.00 if not earlier.

Why don't you just get up an hour earlier if its that easy?

I agree except that I think we should have permanent BST. This would provide lighter evenings for longer, make it safer for pedestrians and drivers and save money on energy bills too. Also the winter would seem shorter.

@BooneyBeautiful

We did actually stay on BST one year (back in the 1970s I think), but for some reason we then went back to changing them twice a year again!

Yes I remember that. We walked to school with luminous arm bands on our coats as the mornings were darker for a while. However my parents said that it had to change back as it was still dark in Scotland at 10am in December and the farmers didn't like it.

Why should the everyone suffer the clock changes due to the demands of Scottish farmers?

Why should the everyone suffer the clock changes due to the demands of Scottish farmers

What about the safety of primary school children north of Scotch Corner, does that count?

It's not just about Scottish farmers. It's about children throughout Scotland walking to school in the dark for potentially a few months of each year - as opposed to a brief time at the end of the winter term walking home as it's just getting dark.

Forward half an.hour next Spring and leave it at that.

When Scotland is independent, we could just have our own time

@Tailendofsummer

When Scotland is independent, we could just have our own time

That seems fair enough.

100 %agree - it takes me a good week to adjust, my body clock hates it and so do I, make it stop

Delighted we are back to proper GMT ..Dont forget it's summer time e that is the aberration! At last my body clock agrees with the time (ok not in the car!) and I am twice as productive. Hurray!

@Rosehip10

Why should the everyone suffer the clock changes due to the demands of Scottish farmers?

"Everyone" isn't suffering.

@Yepnothatfeeling

It's not just about Scottish farmers. It's about children throughout Scotland walking to school in the dark for potentially a few months of each year - as opposed to a brief time at the end of the winter term walking home as it's just getting dark.

How is it a brief time at the end of the winter term? It's dark by 3.30 by around mid November and that continues to at least the end of January.

I'm autistic & the changing of the clocks always takes me a good month to get used to.

I've never understood changing the time. I mean, if you don't have to use lights at one end of the clock, you DO have to use them at the other. Just leave the time alone, please.

It was to started to reduce the use of candles and be more eco-friendly and is used to be more energy efficient now

Not really noticed as most devices automatically adjust and it’s only an hour either way.
Sorry it’s affecting you and your child though.

@Mamanyt

I've never understood changing the time. I mean, if you don't have to use lights at one end of the clock, you DO have to use them at the other. Just leave the time alone, please.

Winter GMT is our natural time, sun at its highest midday. Summer is the false time sun at its highest 1pm. Changing the clocks is to give extra light in the summer evenings, when we have plenty daylight. In March just before the clocks change again it will be starting to get light in the morning about 6am, dark at 6pm, Nobody is really bothered by the light between 6-7 in the morning but would like that hour in the evening.

I felt extremely passionately that they shouldn’t change when I had small children but now I quite like it.

Completely agree......
Unfortunately I'd scrap British Summer Time where others would scrap GMT.. whenever they've polled it ends up near 50/50 split..... although a massive majority want one time.
Really empathise with cooker & car clocks as (also microwave) they often have crazy instructions.... so much for me I leave them on GMT 👀😬😁

Platax I live in the central belt in Scotland. As I explained upthread, before the clocks changed last week, my kids were leaving the house at 8am in semi darkness. If the clocks hadn't changed, it's reasonable to assume this would be the state of play until February, walking to school in the dark. When the clocks change, we get lighter mornings and it's not really until early Dec that it's dark at 8 am. My kids leave school at 3.30 and are back at 4pm - in this part of Scotland it doesn't get properly dark until then even in the middle of Dec, so central belt children (the most populous part of Scotland) get more days walking in the light when the clocks change.

Not sure why people find this so hard to grasp or why people down south seem keen to ignore the experiences of Scottish children walking to school and maximising their safety.

@Fridafever

I felt extremely passionately that they shouldn’t change when I had small children but now I quite like it.

I tend to agree ..and in any event not everybody runs their day on the traditional 8-5 type pattern.

I’m sure there are probably plenty of people who routinely start work early who are bothered by how light or dark it is between 6-7 in the morning…OTOH if you routinely start work late in the day you’ll think differently..so in the context of this debate how do you cater for both those groups?

If you work or worked in a job where shifts are forever changing I suspect it all becomes a bit irrelevant - you just arrange your day around whatever is required at whatever time the clock says and wonder what all the bi-annual fuss is about…which is pretty much where I am on this.

In other words you’ll never get agreement and there is no right, wrong or ideal answer.

For safety reasons GMT makes more sense in winter and little daylight.
But then the bright summer nights are nice too but you cannot argue with safety, it has to come first over pleasant evening sports.

So we'd have to stick with GMT, but nobody needs daylight at 3am at the expense of darkness at 9pm mid summer.

Clock manufacturers need to make car and cooker clocks easier to change

No one makes you get up later or go to bed later.

If you hate changing the clocks do much, why not just carry getting up and going to bed as you did throughout the summer, but go to work, school etc. an hour later!