GMT +2 - Not good news...

[Byz1453]

Latest from this morning's Sunday Tel re daylight saving and the government's plans to give us all a BST +1

Coalition may put clocks forward two hours - Telegraph

[jam1e1]

will bring a whole new angle to 'light pollution' !!

[smudgeball]

plans to give us all a BST +1

Just off to warn my scope !

[laser_jock99]

Doesn't make a whole lot of difference to astronomers I guess - not extra daylight is gained nor darkness lost. Just means observing will be more antisocial than usual in the wee small hours, possibly a bonus if the council round here start switching the lights off at midnight?

[dlp]

Hope not - I remember the first time it was tried - horrible dark in the mornings. Will be interesting to see if 'sick' leave goes up if they do!

[Psychobilly]

Yeta another "Brilliant idea" from the "House of Brilliant Ideas"

Billy...

[dlp]

To be fair I think most "Houses of Brilliant Ideas" have considered it in the last 20yrs. I think they're waiting for us oldies to drop off as likely complainants

[Psychobilly]

I have no political allegiance they are all as bad as one another...

Billy...

[yoda]

I have no political allegiance they are all as bad as one another...

Billy...

I 100% agree

[lankywolf]

Who elected these idiots..... Oh yeah, nobody!!!

[stardad]

Be interesting on how they get the clocks back? 2hrs in one day or a phazed 1 hr in September and then 1 hr in November?

At least the people will be consulted.......

Oh we just were.....

[Whippy]

Can we please keep it relevent and not drag the thread into politics where it'll inevtiably get locked or removed.

Thanks.

[Psychobilly]

Certainly ... apologies...

I am lucky that I can keep whatever hours I want with "work" so it wont make any difference to me...

I guess if you have a scope that does a DST calculation you will have to alter the time you enter unless its a GPS based unit...

Billy...

[keef_uk]

Boo hiss

[BrianH]

I can always hope that Scotland decides not to go that route

[ron.s.g]

Hi all,

would be better turning lights off at night and saving money than worrying about changing times.

regards Ron.s.g

[Hypernova]

I have never seen any sense in daylight savings, all the arguments for it seem to be quite shallow with no real facts behind them. I would much prefer to see it return to bog standard GMT and do away with the bi-annual confusion and messed up sleep patterns. If we go to CET we will be one of the only places on the meridian that aren't set to GMT.

[WayBig]

doesnt bother me, it's always cloudy anyway

[bigglesdad]

They covered it on the BBC News tonight. It needs the consent of every parliament/assembly and the Scottish Parliament won't agree cos it means longer dark mornings and that'll affect the kids going to school. Lets hope they stick to their guns.

[IanC11]

I'ld get hammered twice as I work 12hr nights, actually look forward to seeing

dawn at 4am during the summer, seems to make the shift shorter, light till 10 then light again by 4. winter arrive in darkness, go home in darkness, makes for a long shift.

Ian

[JamesF]

Why is it a problem if children have to go to school in the dark, but not a problem for them to come home in the dark?

James

[dale blue]

Hi all,

would be better turning lights off at night and saving money than worrying about changing times.

regards Ron.s.g

Good answer Ron.s.g:icon_salut:

[ixalon]

From a central-belt Scotland point of view, the current GMT/GMT+1 combination works quite well. The latest sunrise this year (for example) is 08:44, with the earliest sunset at 15:38. School hours vary between schools and regions, but tend to be 08:30-09:00 to 15:00-15:30 - so the school runs are mostly during daylight, and rarely properly dark.

Worse further up north though, but GMT+2 would make the morning run very very dark indeed.

[Egor Blimey]

Personally I'd welcome extra light evenings. It's generally too light in summer anyway for serious observing, and I have other outdoor interests as well as astronomy.

Our climate is so lousy for astronomy anyway that the number of lost hours a year due to the time change would be minimal.

I'll now wait to be excommunicated!

[Egor Blimey]

Oh, and another thought:

Why is it that it is deemed OK to have only 2 months before the shortest day, but 3 months after, of GMT?

It rather destroys all the usual safety/agricultural etc arguments doesn't it?

Barry.