GMT / British Summer Time

[vinteuil]

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... I see that the European Commission is planning to remove the hour changes between 'Winter Time' and 'Summer Time' to which we have become accustomed, and keep Europe on perennial 'Summer Time'. Whether this will automatically apply to the United Kingdom, can't say.

I like the six-monthly clock-changes : the marked difference between the long summer evenings and the cosy early nightfall of winter. I even enjoy the ritual of clock-changing (tho' many machines now seem to do it automatically... ) - and of discovering weeks later a forgotten clock ticking away in the 'wrong' time zone...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-45366390

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[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I hate with an intense passion the early darkness of late Autumn and Winter evenings, and would rejoice if we scrapped the current system and kept British Summer Time permanently.

[Zucchini]

... ticking away in the 'wrong' time zone...

What's "ticking away"?

[vinteuil]

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... does our courgette have clocks that don't tick?

How very advanced....


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[french frank]

I see that the European Commission is planning to remove the hour changes between 'Winter Time' and 'Summer Time' to which we have become accustomed, and keep Europe on perennial 'Summer Time'.

More precisely, they carried out an EU-wide public consultation where 84% of the respondents favoured no clock change. They are now preparing a proposal for the European Parliament and the Council who will decide.

"The European Commission has today published the preliminary results of the public consultation on clock change in Europe.

This online consultation, which ran from 4 July to 16 August 2018, received 4.6 million responses from all 28 Member States, the highest number of responses ever received in any Commission public consultation. According to the preliminary results (see annex), 84% of respondents are in favour of putting an end to the bi-annual clock change.

European Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc presented these preliminary results to the College of Commissioners that held a first discussion on the possible next steps. Commissioner Bulc said: "Millions of Europeans used our public consultation to make their voices heard. The message is very clear: 84% of them do not want the clocks to change anymore. We will now act accordingly and prepare a legislative proposal to the European Parliament and the Council, who will then decide together."

We wouldn't want anyone to think that unelected bureaucrats in Brussels made the laws, would we?

[vinteuil]

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... thank you, Fr: Fr:, for the added detail.

A statistician would point out that this survey was seriously skewed. Those who 'had a view' responded to the survey...

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[french frank]

A statistician would point out that this survey was seriously skewed. Those who 'had a view' responded to the survey...

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That is the case with most surveys which aren't compulsory, isn't it?

The consultation was carried out after Finland called for the change in a response to a petition signed by 70,000 Finns. Where's ahinton when you need him? - I'm sure he has always complained about the clock change.

[zola]

If the decision was to keep to one time ( presumably "summer" time ) that would be fine. But some of the past proposals for the UK have been for a double summer time that would still entail the twice yearly change and the consequent adverse effects on the body clock. And leave Scotland in the dark until mid morning in the winter months.

[french frank]

If the decision was to keep to one time ( presumably "summer" time ) that would be fine. But some of the past proposals for the UK have been for a double summer time that would still entail the twice yearly change and the consequent adverse effects on the body clock. And leave Scotland in the dark until mid morning in the winter months.

It's interesting that the suggestion came from Finland initially, presumably even more affected by winter dark nights than we are (especially Scotland) .

[Zucchini]

Where's ahinton when you need him?

He was being a Somalian just a minuet earlier

[ahinton]

I hate with an intense passion the early darkness of late Autumn and Winter evenings, and would rejoice if we scrapped the current system and kept British Summer Time permanently.

I couldn't agree more! Whilst, as vinteuil rightly points out that most timing devices adjust automatically, many still don't but, more importantly, those who wish to retian the status quo for whatever reason or none seem to take scant account of the sheer cost of these twice-yearly changes which I imagine still to be immense. You can't "save" daylight anyway! It's a daft idea and, should EU scrap it, UK would be daft not to follow suit. Of course, should Brexit not occur, it would presumably have to follow suit anyway!

[ahinton]

That is the case with most surveys which aren't compulsory, isn't it?

The consultation was carried out after Finland called for the change in a response to a petition signed by 70,000 Finns. Where's ahinton when you need him? - I'm sure he has always complained about the clock change.

I'm right here, Frenchie! And I've always been against it, yes. I don't hold with this double British Summer Time nonsense either. Just let's stay on European Standard Time permanently like the rest of Western Europe.

[ahinton]

He was being a Somalian just a minuet earlier

Only in the conditional sense in the specific context in which I mentioned that country. For the record, Somalia is 3 hours ahead of GMT - i.e. 2 hours ahead of "British Summer Time" - but even it has the good sense to preserve the same time throughout the year rather than changing twice annually as we have so far done in Western Europe!

[jayne lee wilson]

I'm right here, Frenchie! And I've always been against it, yes. I don't hold with this double British Summer Time nonsense either. Just let's stay on European Standard Time permanently like the rest of Western Europe.

The end of October is like...abandon hope all ye who enter...

Then November is like a tunnel of rain.... perhaps the God of Climate Change can do something about that?

[Dave2002]

Allegedly putting the clocks back for the winter months reduces accidents - particularly RTAs. Whatever its faults, I'm in favour of keping the present system, at least in the UK. Re consultation, and results - the one under discussion here was one which I wasn't even aware of. If any decision were to be based on that I'd be very concerned. Also, what aspects of a "one size fits all" solution approach do people not get? Basically they only work if the circumstances for most of the participants are similar. Averages don't always work either, as surveyed populations can be bi-modal - or multi-modal, and "solutions" based on averages might lead to 100% dissatisfaction. An approach which works for southern Italy might be very poor for many parts of Sweden.