Your views on altering daylight hours

[Digga]

Extending daylight could boost health and help planet. That's what's being said about propsed changes to daylight hours in northern hemishpere countries.

Article here on Reuters

Personally, I'm all for changing. I think it's pretty absurd that a minority of Scottish farmers have prevented the issue from being organised for the benefit of the greater populace. As I see it, the advantages of having more daylight at the end of the day far outweight the arguments against.

1. Road safety, especially for kids coming home from school.
2. Greater opportunity for sporting activities.
3. So we should (generally be healthier) and less succeptible to depression and illness.
4. More chance of doing well in international and olympic sports.
5. Save energy on lighting.

Can't see any of the above comes at a great cost. Anecdotally, although there are plenty of people up and about - on the roads - early in the day (like me), who might be slightly disadvantaged, there are far more about later on who would benefit.

[Einion Yrth]

We can't alter daylight hours, all we can do is alter what time we say it is when it's light. Leave the clocks alone and if necessary change your working hours to suit you better.

[Sheets Tabuer]

They've been unsuccessful for year so now trot out health of the planet in the hope it will work.

Personally I'd prefer it to be lighter at night.

[miniman]

Einion Yrth said:

Leave the clocks alone and if necessary change your working hours to suit you better.

letter said:

Dear Mr. Yrth,

This is to inform you that your bank will now open between 2am and 10am to allow our staff to change their working hours to suit them better.

Regards, Bank

Not really going to work, is it?

[Mr Gearchange]

Ridiculous situation to appease Scottish farmers at the potential risk of schoolchildren.

[s2art]

This was tried back in approx 1970. It was considered a failure then so what has changed?

[Einion Yrth]

miniman said:

Einion Yrth said:

Leave the clocks alone and if necessary change your working hours to suit you better.

letter said:

Dear Mr. Yrth,

This is to inform you that your bank will now open between 2am and 10am to allow our staff to change their working hours to suit them better.

Regards, Bank

Not really going to work, is it?

I haven't been into a bank in years - BACS and internet banking FTW. Plus I'm up and about early in the morning so it would actually be very convenient for me. Try again.

[itsnotarace]

Mr Gearchange said:

Ridiculous situation to appease Scottish farmers at the potential risk of schoolchildren.

Thank god someone is thinking of the children

[TuxRacer]

Altering daylight hours or alterating that we alter daylight hours?

[Digga]

TuxRacer said:

Altering daylight hours or alterating that we alter daylight hours?

If the clocks changed daily, I think we could make it work.

[Bill]

Digga said:

1. Road safety, especially for kids coming home from school.

Doesn't school finish at 3.30? And it'll be darker when they're going to school.

Digga said:

#Greater opportunity for sporting activities.

An hour extra light will make minimal difference, particularly as most workers are home after dark even before the clocks change. It would make more sense to have a 3 hour lunch break and do sport then.

Digga said:

#So we should (generally be healthier) and less succeptible to depression and illness.

See above.

Digga said:

#More chance of doing well in international and olympic sports.

Why? Most people training at that level have to be up at 5am anyway.

Digga said:

#Save energy on lighting.

In the evening, but use more in the morning, surely?

I can't see why people get narked by going back to GMT for the winter. BST claws an extra hour of light for the evening from the morning when no one is up, in the winter it makes sense to return to GMT IMO.

ETA and it wouldn't get light until 9am in mid winter, which if you're up with kids at 6 would be pretty much unbearable.

Edited by Bill on Friday 29th October 14:59

[V88Dicky]

Where do we magic this extra daylight up from, then?


Stick an extra hour on in the evenings, lose an hour in the mornings.


Its depressing enough going to work in the dark without it still being dark 'til 10 am.

[heebeegeetee]

Mr Gearchange said:

Ridiculous situation to appease Scottish farmers at the potential risk of schoolchildren.

Especially as the kids aren't allowed out anyway and must be driven everywhere.

[JagLover]

Our natural day, determined by our place on the world's surface is GMT. We should stick with that all year around without BST.

Instead every year when we revert back to it, people whinge about less light in the evenings. What about light in the morning?, when many people need to either work, or get to work.

[Digga]

I'd say there's always more people up and about around 6pm than 6am. I'm pretty certain this is not something I have imagined.

If this is the case, then whatever benefits the former sector of population - even at cost to the latter - is surely 'better all round'?

This means, I'd say, that during hours of darkness at the end, rather than begining of the day there is a greater consumption of electricity for lighting.

As for sport, not just professionals, but amateurs will benefit if/when the daylight is better in evening as opposed to mornings.

[jeff m]

I thought this was going to be about attaching retro rockets to the earths surface.
Farmers farm when farmers can, changing what the clock dial says will not change anything. Daisy comes into be milked when Daisy is ready.

Leave the clocks alone, let individual establishments change if they want to.

Or just move closer to the equator.

[F i F]

Einion Yrth said:

We can't alter daylight hours, all we can do is alter what time we say it is when it's light. Leave the clocks alone and if necessary change your working hours to suit you better.

This ^^ absolutely this.

Let establishments alter their working hours to suit the demands of their operational needs.

Might help to stagger start and finish times too. Some cities don't start until 10 am anyway, : points at lazy Laaandoners :

[Vipers]

How on earth do northern parts of Norway, and Finland etc manage? I cant see it making any difference at all personally.

At a given point in the calender, its dark in the mornings and dark at night, what do we do then, nowt, we get on with it.

[rs1952]

JagLover said:

Our natural day, determined by our place on the world's surface is GMT. We should stick with that all year around without BST.

Instead every year when we revert back to it, people whinge about less light in the evenings. What about light in the morning?, when many people need to either work, or get to work.

What our "natural day" is, and what most people call a "natural day," are two different things.

Most of the population are in bed for some, perhaps small, part of the time when it is light out (except in the deepest depths of winter), then stay up well after it gets dark (except perhaps in the hight of summer for a very small few)

I agree that it would appear odd for the "home" of GMT to be permanently on GMT+1, it would better suit the majority of the population.

As for the whingeing Scottish farmers, if they want their own time zone, let 'em go for it. Or alternatively just take no notice of the clock on the wall and more notice of the body clocks of their animals

[JagLover]

Digga said:

I'd say there's always more people up and about around 6pm than 6am. .

Given that it is already now getting dark at 6pm I don't see how that is all that relevant.

A more relevant comparison point would be 7am, versus 5pm. In which case you would find most of us who have to work for a living up by 7.