Gordon Brown to extend BST?

[Euan]

British Summer time could be extended all year round, Gordon Brown says - Telegraph

Welcome to the UK, rubbish weather and now lighter evenings

Isn't that just great

[brianb]

Harold Wislon tried this in the 60s, most people thought it was a good idea ... until it was implemented, when the dark mornings really upset people, even those in SE England. Contrary to the "experts", road accidents rose significantly, & everyone was heartily glad when the experiment was abandoned.

Far better to stop messing around with the clocks & have UT ? GMT all year round ... though 15 mins behind GMT would actually be better for the UK as a whole.

[arad85]

It's a good idea if you can move the UK a thousand miles South so we could have more equal length days (and clearer nights please!!)

I deal on a daily basis with people in UK, France, South Africa, India, Singapore, China and Korea. Trying to find times when we can do any lengthy meetings (by phone - obviously!) is a real pain. Half of those countries don't have the concept of summer time - primarily because there is no need being closer to the Equator (summer/winter days being more equal in length). For me in my daily job, yes it would help...

[brianb]

Trying to find times when we can do any lengthy meetings (by phone - obviously!) is a real pain.

The USSR used to manage quite well ... with 13 time zones.

If you want to work on Chinese time, relocate to China.

[skye at night]

Wont make a load of difference up here I feel...

In Late december it isn't properly light until 9am and dark at just after 3-30...

by early June.. there is pretty much no celestial twilight to cross and you are lucky to see any stars.

you can go for a nice walk at any time of the night though.

Steve

[mattifor]

Its just another silly idea to take attention off how badly he handles everything he touches.

GMT is what we should stick to and stop messing with the time.

Send him and his crack pot Mafia back to Scotland and do us all a favour. I am sure the Scotish population woud give his crack pot ideas short shift.

[arad85]

The USSR used to manage quite well ... with 13 time zones.

If you want to work on Chinese time, relocate to China.

Not easy to do when I'm working on 3 projects each centred in a different location and hence revolving around a different timezone (South Africa, France and Korea are the main centres) I could of course constantly be on a plane but when would I get to observe/post on here.

It's not the time zones per se that is the issue, more that they change relative timings every 6 months (SA, Korea, Singapore, China, India don't do summer time....).

[skye at night]

Its just another silly idea to take attention off how badly he handles everything he touches.

GMT is what we should stick to and stop messing with the time.

Send him and his crack pot Mafia back to Scotland and do us all a favour. I am sure the Scotish population woud give his crack pot ideas short shift.

No Thanks!!!

We have another set of Crack-Pot's already controlling too much up here!!!

Steve

[brantuk]

That Gordon Brown's got too much free time on his hands - he's obviously only ever dreaming up yet more stupid ideas to rip off Brits and upset the traditional British way of life.

If he doesn't like this country he should darned well clear out and go and live somewhere that makes him happy where they don't mind being ripped off and messed around all the time.

If he wants to extend daylight time then be warned - an extension to the working day will follow.

Keep GMT and Ling live the revolution I say! lol

[Breakintheclouds]

I definitely think we should just stick with GMT. The current system is mad: ultimately there's the same amount of daylight across a year, and pinching an hour from the evening to put it on the morning just cancels out 6 months later.

Changing the clocks always feels like a doomed attempt to trick the solar system, as if we can get a free extra hour of daylight if the Sun doesn't notice us doing it...

[crepitis]

Yeah, and if the Daily Telegraph, that bastion of liberal thinking, says something negative about a Labour Prime Minister then it must be true., its just another "how dare they meddle with our Britishness" story that get published on a slow news day

And if this is making the news then I suppose the recession must be over and when did the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan end ? ...I must have missed that meeting.

[Naz]

OK guys, this is a discussion about a newspaper report. Discuss the effects of a change to the time by all means, keep politics out of it, or it will be closed.

Archie

[crepitis]

No probs Naz, I just hate to think that we might get yet another hour of sunlight at night up here in the summer, its bad enough as it is.

[Naz]

No probs Naz, I just hate to think that we might get yet another hour of sunlight at night up here in the summer, its bad enough as it is.

You will still get the same hours of light / dark, just have to adjust your body clock to cope.

Archie

[crepitis]

My body clock died 25 years ago when I started shift work..

[PhillyDee]

My body clock died 25 years ago when I started shift work..

So true! I think I am currently running on GMT+7. Thogu hit is hard to tell.

I notice the article-

"Three years ago a YouGov survey found 54 per cent of the public supported a change in daylight hours. "

Yes. They don't want the BST. We want just GMT. Not GMT+anything. Just GMT.

Way to go for picking a survey which has the tiniest of relation to the argument

[mark skelton]

Having dst (bst) all year round is not going to cut road deaths, reducing the speed limits will.

[PhillyDee]

Having dst (bst) all year round is not going to cut road deaths, reducing the speed limits will.

No it won't. Thats a fallacy spouted by reduce your speed campaigners.

[Ibbo!]

Here's a thought teach kids (people) to find a safe place to cross, look before they cross the road,

oh and my absolute favourite teach people with pushchairs that a car travelling at any speed and a pram is no contest

Oh just think we could cut the grass at midnight

[coastwalker]

An extra hour of daylight would be fantastic in October and March, it would shorten the winter by two months for me as I would be able to leave work in the daylight and get some fresh air. Plenty of time left to drag the gear up onto the moor. Reading the article the favored proposal only affects the winter anyway. I am 50 so I would vote for anyone who gives me an extra two months of life per year.

[Ogri]

Having dst (bst) all year round is not going to cut road deaths, reducing the speed limits will.

Strangely enough we tried that in the 70's (the first oil crisis) and accidents and fatalities went through the roof so fast, it was dropped 'like yesterday' when the figures started pouring in.

I was a long distance driver at the time, and I lost count of the fire extinguishers I used putting out cars in flames (seriously, it was scary).

Speed does not kill, speed keeps people alert and wide awake behind the wheel.

Idiots behind the wheel that can't drive cause road deaths (usually behind, in front of, and alongside their victims), and they usually go very slowly.

The 'modern driving test' has a heck of a lot to answer for too. France had the very worst driving standards in Europe, and imposed their stupid driving test system on us, and now our driving standards are as bad as theirs - only beaten by the standards of Portuguese drivers - you should see the Spanish take evasive action when it sinks in there's a Portuguese number plate around them.

I said at the time the new tests were announced, that our driving standards would go completely down the pan, and that's exactly what's happened, sad to say.

eta: I also lived through this daylight shift when it was introduced in the 60's as well - it didn't work then, and it certainly won't work now either (funny they don't mention that in the article?). Stick with BST as it is now, as it is safer for kids on their way to and from school (why it was dropped in the 60's).

[arad85]

As to speed kills... well, yes it does, but no it doesn't! The wrong speed for the road does - not anything else. I did one of those speed workshops a couple of years ago (caught once - guilty) and the most amazing thing I read after it was that the safest speed to travel on a road is 80% of the maximum speed people travel on the road. What was the criterion for having a speed trap?? Just that where the 80th percentile is above the maximum speed set for that road AND that is above the speed limit. So the safest speed to travel on the road where most speed traps is, is the one that is safest!

Craaayzee... Do I abide by speed limits... nope - not if I think the road can handle it! Only when I'm crossing the cameras....

[Ogri]

Well technically, it's the stopping excessively fast that kills you (for us motorcyclists, it's anything over 26mph with a head impact and the brain deceleration - which means crash helmets are fundamentally useless, but great and stylish, if overpriced, umberellas).

But yeah I agree with what you said. Road, conditions, and vehicle.

It's really refreshing driving on the Continent where people are at least treated like adults. They do seem to love motorcyclists big time too, and the faster the bikes go, the more they love it.

For example I was in a National Park in Hungary, came up to a roadworks sign that had a 15kmh speed sign before it, and slowed right down, and all the people working on the road waved their hands frantically and shook their heads no-no-no and made wrist actions to wind the throttle open. So I stopped, gave a thumbs up, and did a high speed drag start up the hill beyond them, and came back and did it again.

They loved it!

For an old fart I'm a bit quick, even if I say so myself. lol!

eta: SPIT! Just realised this old fart is a year older today. Off to the pub!

[Space Bat]

As to speed kills... well, yes it does, but no it doesn't! The wrong speed for the road does - not anything else. I did one of those speed workshops a couple of years ago (caught once - guilty) and the most amazing thing I read after it was that the safest speed to travel on a road is 80% of the maximum speed people travel on the road. What was the criterion for having a speed trap?? Just that where the 80th percentile is above the maximum speed set for that road AND that is above the speed limit. So the safest speed to travel on the road where most speed traps is, is the one that is safest!

Craaayzee... Do I abide by speed limits... nope - not if I think the road can handle it! Only when I'm crossing the cameras....

I remember once being flippant to an officer regarding his comment on my speed, he stated that speed kills...I said that it doesn't - stopping does....that is why I try to go as fast as I can without stopping....luckily he found it amusing and just gave me a producer...

[arad85]

I remember once being flippant to an officer regarding his comment on my speed, he stated that speed kills...I said that it doesn't - stopping does....that is why I try to go as fast as I can without stopping....luckily he found it amusing and just game me a producer...

LOL... that's far too close for comfort for me.... In that situation I'm a yes sir, no sir sort....