putting the clocks forward an hour...

[imamartian]

is putting the clocks forward an hour permanently a good idea?

What might be the pros, and what are the cons?

 

[conny]

Pros stand on a street corner and cons runs the country.

As for the clocks question, haven't a clue mate.

 

[joinerjohn]

Dunno really Martian. In winter time we still only have the same amount of daylight hours we had last winter. Perhaps we should try just leaving the clocks as they are for a year and see if the general public like it.
Some will moan that their kids are walking to school in near darkness,(or having to drive their kids there) but at least their coming home in the light (or the other way round)(although it will still be getting dark). For people who work shifts, there will be no difference at all. They will still work an 8hr shift then go home , irrespective of whether it's day or night.

 

[Inky Pete]

It's mid-day when it's mid-day, and mid-night when it's mid-night. Dosn't matter what the clocks say, it's all to do with the position of the sun in the sky and no amount of regulation is going to influence that.

If it's too dark at the end of your working day, get up earlier. If it's too dark early on, have a lie in. But GMT is GMT and is the only time zone in the world which is actually based on something that can be measured.

Scrap BST if you want, but leave GMT alone.

 

[kevplumb]

time is man made

 

[Monkeh]

But GMT is GMT and is the only time zone in the world which is actually based on something that can be measured.

Actually it's not. GMT is now precisely the same as UTC, which is taken as an average of multiple atomic clocks and then adjusted.

The sun is no longer used due to inaccuracy (it's pretty hard to precisely locate it). What you want is UT1, which is calculated via a number of measurements: The positions of quasars, distance to the moon, and other satellite orbits (GPS positions, among other things). UTC is adjusted to be within 0.9 seconds of UT1.

Time is.. complicated.

 

[Mickymoody]

Shouldn't time be gradient? So longer minutes in the summer, and shorter minutes in the winter, so there isn't an hour change?

Sure the planets get pulled closer together, and drawn apart, so shouldn't a clock reflect that?

The UK had different time zones, until the railways were built, and rightly so, as there were different timezones. But technology made that obsolete; but if you have a clock that extends minutes, or decreases them, whereever you are, make a more accurate clock, disregarding this hour forward and back?

And the concept of time; when you are waiting for something, time drags, but when you are excited, time flies. So time is a concept.

 

[ColJack]

time has nothing to do with where the other planets are.

BST was introduced during one of the wars ( can't remember which and can't be bothered to google it.. ) so that workers etc could make use of the longer daylight hours during the summer..

seems kind of stupid to me, why bother to get up earlier if it's light from 4am to 9pm anyway..?

 

[Space cat]

About forty years ago we had a taste of constant BST. Kids were sent off to school in pitch blackness with reflective bands so that drivers could see them. Postmen needed torches to read the addresses on letters. After a few years, the experiment was declared a flop and we returned to normal.

 

[joinerjohn]

Instead of changing clocks, why don't employers/schools etc change start/finish times during winter and summer?. Say in winter time , instead of school being from 9am till 4pm make it from 10am till 5 pm. Similarly employers could make office hours 10 till 6 or whatever.

 

[masona]

Tourism chiefs back the move to bring Britain into line with most of continental Europe, saying the lighter evenings would boost the leisure industry.