Who actually benefits from changing the clocks?

[shockwaze]

Kids up at 5:30. Pretty sure that the same thing has happened in many, many houses this morning.

It's just an hour, but so disruptive to children.

Who benefits? Winds me up every year.

As already said, it make fuck all difference to us. We work in daylight, what the actual time is doesn't affect us.

This rain however..

They don’t have electric lighting in barns & fields in the middle of nowhere.

Why no need? If there was no change then my kids would be going to & coming home from school in darkness here in Scotland . That has not and will never change

But we don't work 9-5. When it is dark it is dark. It makes no difference to me if it is dark at 4 or 5, we work in the daylight.

However at least now they get to walk to school in daylight

No one benefits now. It was introduced as a cost & energy savings measure by factory owners so they’d spend less on coal to run their generators providing light to the workers. It was kept on when actual coal power plants were built, and made law in WWI.

I suppose it’s an early Green initiative before climate change was even on the radar.

I'll lay it out for you-I give about the same amount of fcuks about you and your children's sleeping habits the same as you give farmers.

Farmers are more useful.

PS: Day light savings were brought in in war times. Give it a Google while you're awake in the morning.

🤣😀

I think it doesn't make sense when a big part of the population have flexibility working. So you cab start very early or late in the morning whaever suits. It doesn't even make sense to save energy any more.

I want Independence, for many, many reasons, but that isn't one of them. We don't need to make up spurious reasons when there are so many valid, rational ones
I'm old enough ( just) to recall the winters when they experimented with GMT year round in the UK. All children in Scotland were given hi Viz vests, armbands etc . It was horrendous.

It's almost his bed time I'm playing with him to see if he stays awake and sleeps till 7 am!😂

Oh I remember that I must have been p1 or 2 and having reflective armbands

It’s so that the mornings are lighter enabling people to go about their business in (relative) daylight. This also includes children going to school when it’s light. It’s that simple. We adjust the clocks back and forth to get the most light we can out of the day.

In the very north of Scotland it would be dark till around 9.30am if the clocks did not change. I thought everyone knew this!! Did you think it was just done for no reason lol

The 60s experiment was BST year round not GMT. If we kept GMT winter would be the same but we’d have an earlier sunset and shorter evenings in the summer.

Just a thought - did you consider, (before you put ill-considered, w*nky finger to keyboard), that some Mumsnet readers may be farmers? And possibly be mildly peeved at your comment of "Well, fuck them" (farmers)?

Whilst I have every sympathy for that fact that your child has a DREADFUL cold (boohoo...), there are many people with slightly more serious issues who don't feel the need to lash out at random strangers.

It's life.

Stop whining,
count your blessings
and
stop writing goady posts

PS Hope you get out of the right side of bed tomorrow😘

Apologies. I was only young😉 I do recall the darkness and how awful it was to walk to school and sit in a class when pitch black outside.

Why don’t you do your own personal trial of not changing your clocks OP? That way you would probably quickly see the benefits of not having super- dark mornings for the rest of winter. They trialled it in the 60s and it was found to be dangerous for kids travelling to school.

yes it’s a bit annoying when you have young kids and don’t feel the benefit but the world isn’t run completely for the benefit of you and your kid. Me, my teenage kids and my dog all benefitted from having an extra hour in bed 😀

That's not the reason.

The clocks don't change for winter benefit. They change in the summer from our "correct" time to allow a longer evening. Since England have shorter days in summer than Scotland it benefits England more. Having said that, it's great that the sun doesn't rise at 3 in the morning in Scotland.

We have a farm. I didn't find offence, it is a crap argument anyway.

Like the rest of OPs reply, I took it as tongue in cheek.

Sunrise where I live in Central Scotland is 08.44 GMT on 21st December this year. Permanent BST would make that 09.44. Given that many schools start at 8.45 or earlier, would you want a child of yours starting school an hour before sunrise?

See, it's this kind of paranoid obsession with male-hating that makes me want to hide threads & leave MN forever. I tell anyone who asks that this place is a cesspit of man-haters.

Yeah I know, don't let the door slam my arse on way out. I just haven't decided on the right flouncing frock yet, is problem.

I totally understand your point and that’s exactly why we will likely stick with the unhappy compromise we have. I would not have an issue taking my children to school in the dark, in fact I often do as breakfast club is from 0730 and it is dark when I drop off for most of December and January. I’d still rather have a little light after school to actually go outside.

Why would not changing the clocks be a problem in the winter? Winter time is the real time. What I don't understand is what's the benefit in the summer? That's the bit that would be affected.

I'm not saying I'd like it but they manage in large parts of mainland Europe. Little crocodiles of small children wearing bright hats.

Mind you they're more pedestrian friendly.