Clocks being put back

[rov1200]

Shortly we are due to put our clocks back with darker evenings causing more accidents and some children having to find their way home from school in the dark. The cost to the country must also be enormous. What are the savings in % terms to keep the clocks on Summer time? A decent guess would be OK/

[terambulan]

Been doing it for years and the population still increases. Will be worse soon as Councils threaten to cut street lighting due to credit-crunch.

Strangely, Council tax hasn't reduced due to the lesser services......another subject but am peeved!

[ruby27]

My recollection is that the change is for the benefit of school children in Scotland. Without the change those children would be travelling to school on dark mornings which increases their risk of being injured in traffic accidents.

Presumably it has been concluded that this saving out weighs the cost. But I don't know if there is any % worked out:-

like X no of Scottish school children am, versus Y no of British children pm?

[scotgal]

Here we go again-many moons ago we were warned repeatedly in assembly at school about the dangers of getting off school buses in dark .......what is wrong with everyone? You just have to repeat warnings as if by rote.....watch and beware!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[taichiperson]

I live up near the Scottish Border. It's soooo depressing getting up when it's still dark - when the clocks go back it is correspondingly lighter in the mornings....
I went to school way down south in the Channel Islands, and seem to recall a year or maybe two when daylight saving was abandoned (mid to late sixties?) Does anyone else remember this? I was way too young to make a judgement, but think it caused a lot of bother at the time.

[philandlil]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_summer_ti me

[taichiperson]

Thnaks for the link Phil and lil, was beginning to think it was a figment of my imagination when the clocks didnt change!! Personally, I still find dark mornings very depressing.

[jake-the-peg]

I thing Terrembulam the point is Council tax hasn't kept pace with the rise in energy prices which is why they're looking to make savings like cuttuing street lighting in the early hours.

As you say another topic.

I know rov - tell the Scots

Every time the subject of keeping BST permanently comes up they complain about children going to school in the dark and a study about fatalities in road accidents (which looks increasingly dodgy).

I don't see why they can't adopt a different time zone - The US manages very well with split time zones and England could keep a contant time zone or adopt the European time zone.

[scotgal]

Oh by the way forgot to say we've had two deaths up here of two young people being run over getting off school bus in the height of summer within two weeks...........!!

[youngmafbog]

I just wish we would be in line with Europe. The one thing that would be usefull and they wont do it. If you have to work with anyone in Bruxelles then you would find it a nightmare, they are in an hour earlier, take two hours out for lunch and go home earlier and the day is gone. None of this makes sense.

I also dont see where the figures for children dying getting off the school bus comes from anyway. It can only be a guess.

[tigerlily11]

I know there are a couple of different reason for doing this.
But all I know is there is something rather lovely about waking up on that sunday knowing you have an extra hour.

[anotheoldgit]

They seem to work to a different set of rules north of the border, so why don't they also have a different time zone?

[Gromit]

When the EU introduce European Standard Time in 2013, the three times in Europe are to be merged. Here in western Europe we will move one hour forward permanently, and countries in the east will lose one hour permanently.

[Azalian]

The Scottish newspaper, The Daily Record, goes through the roof every time the concept of moving to "double summer time" is mooted.
They then tell everyone that the Shetland Islanders will not see sunrise till 10am and bleat about how awful that would be for them, convieniently forgetting that Shetland enjoys practically 24 hour daylight during late June and early jul;y as compensation for short winter days.
A move to BST and double BST should be done now to help tourism.

[bednobs]

plus, kids dont go to school by bus anymore ... the little porkers get taken in in their parents land rovers!

[rov1200]

Some points:

1. If Scotland want their own governance then why should we care how they arrange their daylight affairs.

2. Talk in the press about a severe recession would surely put us a par with war time Britain and the necessary time adjustments to be made,

3. 2013 is a long way away.

4. A calculation was made some time ago about how much we would save but the powers that be shelved it. Maybe we should dust out the findings.

[New Judge]

I had not heard the proposal mentioned by Gromit concerning European Standard Time. Another example of proposed (or more likely already agreed) legislation by the EU about which little is heard and no debate has taken place.

The EU covers about 40 degrees of longitude from the Black Sea coast of Romania to the west coast of Ireland. This represents a difference in sunrise/sunset times of about two and a half hours. By contrast the mainland of the USA covers about 55 degrees but they see fit to divide their country into four time zones (roughly fifteen degrees each, covering one hour of sunrise/sunset time).

Just what is it about the EU that it sees the necessity to standardise time across such a distance? It gets dark in Romania two and a half hours before it does so in Kerry, yet under this proposal clocks in both locations will show the same time.

People in the UK manage to do business with those in the US, although the time difference may be between five and nine hours. Those in the east of the US manage to talk to those on the western seaboard even though they are four hours adrift. Yet people in Europe cannot cope with time differences of one or two hours.

I imagine we will still change our clocks in Spring and Autumn (thus making the UK one hour ahead of GMT in the winter, two in the summer). This means it will stay light until 11pm in June and dark until 9am in December. Is that really what everybody wants?

[Quinlad]

I sort of assumed that Gromit was joking.

[New Judge]

Strangely, Quinlad I had not, but I hope he is.

In any other circumstances matters which are clearly a joke are easily identified. When it comes to EU proposals matters which would clearly be a joke in any other circumstances are usually true.

[Quinlad]

Well saved.

[rov1200]

If we are incapable of making any important decisions maybe we could fall in line with Europe.