If the clocks didn’t change, would you prefer BST or GMT?

[Rainbowheart1]

If they decided we wasn’t going to change the clocks anymore would you prefer this time staying GMT (being as the summer time has lots of daylight anyway) or would you prefer to always be on BST?

YABU -this time GMT
YANBU- BST

Wouldn’t it have to be gmt anyway?
I would prefer lighter evenings personally.
Not bothered re mornings as don’t have to get up early anymore!

Gmt for me ! Every so often we are told that we will no longer be altering the time ,but nothing seems to change! What happened before I wonder .was it ww1 where Chris Martins great grandad had this idea I think

I'd like the entire world to run on UTC (or some other mutually-chosen standard time) and just have it accepted that some parts of the world usually sleep from 03.00 to 11.00 while some sleep from 14.00 to 22.00 and others from 20.00 to 04.00. it would make far more sense trying to schedule things which involve more than one time zone, and would get people out of this habit of thinking that it makes more sense to change what actual time it is than to, say, have winter work/school hours that are different from summer ones.

@ClumpingBambooIsALie

I'd like the entire world to run on UTC (or some other mutually-chosen standard time) and just have it accepted that some parts of the world usually sleep from 03.00 to 11.00 while some sleep from 14.00 to 22.00 and others from 20.00 to 04.00. it would make far more sense trying to schedule things which involve more than one time zone, and would get people out of this habit of thinking that it makes more sense to change what actual time it is than to, say, have winter work/school hours that are different from summer ones.

I suspect you’re going to get some feedback for that but FWIW that’s how many airlines handle it, not just the UK ones, outfits all around the world.

Because crew were moving from one time zone to another, sometimes with some very big shifts on an almost daily basis things like rosters, duty timings etc would be published using UTC…(and UTC was the master, though local time might appear on the paperwork somewhere)

It was down to the individual on how to manage it…e.g. have two watches, one which stayed on UTC and another which got set to local time on arrival.

I live in the west of Ireland so the sun comes up (and goes down obv) more than half an hour later than in London. The autumn mornings are very dark, 8.30am sunrise. Now the clocks have gone back it is better. If we stayed on BST all the time the sun would only come up after 9am by December. I would therefore rather go for GMT all year round if we had to stick to one. Would sacrifice the 11pm sunset in midsummer though...

GMT. As previous posters have said, it's our classic, original time.
And the dark and light thing is very subjective....another British 'moan'....try living in northern Scandinavia where it's dark for most of the day and night in winter. They not only survive but thrive up there and their children walk (alone) to school in the dark, nothing dreadful happens to anyone (and yes, I have lived through winters up there myself, so I do know what it's like).

@Knownbyanothername

I’ve never understood why the clocks go back 2 months before winter solstice but we have to wait 3 months after to wind them on again. I’d be happy if they went forward at the end of February instead.

Yes this is my bugbear. I accept we have to put the clocks back to claw back some morning daylight in the winter, but they should go forward again at the end of Feb.

@EatYourVegetables

Isn’t GMT the “real time” in some sense (at noon sun directly overhead at the middle of the timezone)?

Definitely GMT. The limited light in the winter is better spent in the morning. In the summer there’s enough light to go around, we need thick curtains both mornings and evenings anyway!!

BST is much better for the inbetween times though like April and August/September.

Would you really want it to go dark by 7pm by the end of August?

Would you really want it to go dark by 7pm by the end of August?

I actually wouldn’t mind this, as a random benefit it would make it easier to try and catch the Perseids showers that happen over summer and I can absolutely see the benefit for those with younger children. I spend a heck of a lot of time convincing dd it is actually bedtime despite it still being sunny 7pm is night time, I don’t think it’s an issue for it to be dark at night time.

I like dark mornings but hate dark evenings

@Cornettoninja

Would you really want it to go dark by 7pm by the end of August?

I actually wouldn’t mind this, as a random benefit it would make it easier to try and catch the Perseids showers that happen over summer and I can absolutely see the benefit for those with younger children. I spend a heck of a lot of time convincing dd it is actually bedtime despite it still being sunny 7pm is night time, I don’t think it’s an issue for it to be dark at night time.

Going to be honest, I’d rather be having the battle at 7pm than have them bouncing round before 5am because the sun’s up…

I agree with Cornetto on that one. Also, the question was which would we choose if we had to pick one or the other. I’d pick daylight between 8am and 4pm in winter (I’m in SE England) over daylight at 8pm in August. I really wouldn’t fancy it being dark until 9am in the winter.

But it’s really interesting reading everybody’s different perspectives!

@ditavonteesed

GMT because that's what the clock in my car is and I have no idea how to change it.

I have a clock on the dash and another on the SatNav. The former is right in the summer, and the latter in the winter.

Er...or the other way round. I can never remember.

But apart from that, it's a perfect solution.

Alas, it would seem that accounting for huge swings in daylight hours between the heights of summer and winter cannot be countered by changing the clocks by an hour.

[quote Knownbyanothername]@JaninaDuszejko time difference is how far east or west you are of the Greenwich line, not how far north you are. At midday, the sun will be at its highest point in the sky all along that line running north to south. In Scotland the sun just doesn’t get as high up from the horizon compared with those further south so the days over all are shorter but everyone’s midday happens at the same.[/quote]
@Knownbyanothername I suggest you look at a map of the country so you can understand the point I'm making about the longitude of each of those cities.

Greenwich 51.4780° N, 0.0015° W (SE England)
Bristol 51.4545° N, 2.5879° W (SW England)
Edinburgh 55.9533° N, 3.1883° W (east coast Scotland)
Glasgow 55.8642° N, 4.2518° W (west coast Scotland)
Belfast 54.5973° N, 5.9301° W (east coast northern Ireland)

GMT

GMT. So that 12 o'clock is in the middle of the day.

I suggest you look at a map of the country so you can understand the point I'm making about the longitude of each of those cities.
Greenwich 51.4780° N, 0.0015° W (SE England)
Bristol 51.4545° N, 2.5879° W (SW England)
Edinburgh 55.9533° N, 3.1883° W (east coast Scotland)
Glasgow 55.8642° N, 4.2518° W (west coast Scotland)
Belfast 54.5973° N, 5.9301° W (east coast northern Ireland)

I think the comment made that that Noon is the same time on the watch at all of those cities is correct - that’s the whole point of having a Standard time..

But you are right that real, Solar Noon, measured according to the position of the Sun is different across the time zone due Longitude…

FWIW a one degree shift Longitude changes the timing of the Sun being due south in the sky by 4 minutes…and a degree of longitude is not much, for example it’s roughly the distance between Greenwich and Reading…

I

I was musing on this and thought of another benefit (depending on your pov) to GMT standard throughout the year; if we’re going to get more heatwaves as a result of climate change I think I’d prefer it to get dark earlier in the height of summer so there’s more chance of sleeping whilst it’s cooler.

@Cornettoninja

I was musing on this and thought of another benefit (depending on your pov) to GMT standard throughout the year; if we’re going to get more heatwaves as a result of climate change I think I’d prefer it to get dark earlier in the height of summer so there’s more chance of sleeping whilst it’s cooler.

Surely this just means it’ll get hotter an hour earlier (and everyone will be more uncomfortable for longer at school/work)?

They should leave it on BST. We are an hour ahead here (Spain) and they should leave it on Madrid mean time MMT as the evenings are really long in summer anyway so it’s pretty pointless. It would also mean that we would be on the same time as the UK. Portugal is on the same time as the UK so it’s bizzare that Spain isn’t tbh.

When I was just out of college, the powers that be tried sticking to BST for the winter months. I remember hating it; dark mornings were even worse, and I was only in the Midlands.

That’s a fair point @OublietteBravo. I just think I’d rather deal with being hot and sweaty after a decent sleep in the coolest period possible. Even though it’d still be light early in the morning the temperature would still be at its lowest point for the daylight hours when most people are still sleeping iyswim.

GMT