British Summer Time

[vikingTON]

In retrospect, what we really should be doing is aligning permanently with our European counterparts through the whole year: moving two hours ahead of our useless time zone in summer instead of one. The warmest part of the day would then be when people finish work at 4-5pm so they can go straight to the beer gardens, which could be enjoyed in daylight until midnight at the height of summer. We'd have a Spanish-style, al fresco culture in no time and the tourists would love it as well as the midge hours would be punted back in the evening.

There is absolutely no point in having an hour of pointless daylight between 4-5am instead when people are trying to sleep: let's shift the timezones to create the most benefit for the most people. The right solution for a better Scotland.

 

Edited October 24, 2020 by vikingTON

[throbber]

3 minutes ago, virginton said:

Well anyone who has ever had a meeting scheduled between 3:30-4:30 quite clearly can't do that.

Instead of asking the majority of workers to reschedule their time with employers we could simply move the time zone to provide that utility to everyone instead. 

Well yes: I'm still not seeing a single problem here other than a bizarre sense of injustice among brickies that we can safely file in the bin.

There quite clearly is though.

It’s still surely not that difficult for someone working from home to manage to arrange a half hour walk in the daylight though and they can always try to aim to finish their work for 4 pm even if they can’t do it every day. It’s no reason to change the system we have yet it seems to be your only argument here.

You seem happy to shit all over the entire construction work force who are used to working hours 7am - 4 on and make them either work the entire year round 9-5 or change their hours they work according to the time of year just so you can enjoy an evening stroll with a bit of visible sunlight once a week for 12 weeks of the year. You are clearly a very selfish person.

[Donathan]

Why not just stay on BST but change school hours to 10-4:30 during the winter?

[Monkey Tennis]

40 minutes ago, NotThePars said:

Thanks for reminding me that it's that time of year again when Peter Hitchens goes on his crusade against time

https://www.newenglishreview.org/Peter_Hitchens/Now_is_Not_the_Time/#.X4wXXV_rP2U.twitter

 

Hitchens' case of course isn't that we should have BST all year round; instead he wants GMT locked into position.

[vikingTON]

12 minutes ago, throbber said:

It’s still surely not that difficult for someone working from home to manage to arrange a half hour walk in the daylight though and they can always try to aim to finish their work for 4 pm even if they can’t do it every day. It’s no reason to change the system we have yet it seems to be your only argument here.

 

The majority of dayshift work is on a roughly 9-5 basis so we should have a timezone that reflects this reality. That is the reason to change it and it is a compelling one for physical and mental health reasons. Why don't they just arrange to finish early is a ridiculous counter-point.

Quote

You seem happy to shit all over the entire construction work force who are used to working hours 7am - 4 on and make them either work the entire year round 9-5 or change their hours they work according to the time of year just so you can enjoy an evening stroll with a bit of visible sunlight once a week for 12 weeks of the year. You are clearly a very selfish person.

Well yes I am because you are in fact a tiny minority of the population, whose bizarre attachment to a 7am pitch black anyway start is irrelevant to the country's overall needs.

Edited October 24, 2020 by vikingTON

[throbber]

It’s not a tiny minority of the population who start work before 8 am and require daylight to do their job though it’s the way the construction trade is.

Anyway it’s not going to change any time soon so it’s you who needs to deal with it I’m afraid.

[invergowrie arab]

Anyone starting work before 9 am should consider their life a failure.

Bin this this fucking nonsense 

[vikingTON]

29 minutes ago, throbber said:

It’s not a tiny minority of the population who start work before 8 am and require daylight to do their job though it’s the way the construction trade is.

Except that you've already admitted that you don't get daylight before 8am in Scotland as it is, yet you choose to bumble around in the dark like a clown running across a minefield anyway.

Truly the sort of trade whose upstanding, 'common sense' approach to working conditions will be taken seriously in this exercise.

Quote

Anyway it’s not going to change any time soon so it’s you who needs to deal with it I’m afraid.

Oh no here was me thinking this was a Select Committee meeting and not an online football forum the whole time! 

Edited October 24, 2020 by vikingTON

[effeffsee_the2nd]

I think a bit of common sense is required here, from december to mid January its still pitch dark at 8 am . Under this year round scenario that would mean darkness till after 9 am and it dusk would still come at 5 pm .
The reason we don’t change exactly on the equinox is becuase it’s spring and autumn where the most benefit from the shifting time is gained. We at our northern latitudes get both extremes of daylight and darkness so no amount of jiggery pokery will make much difference ( in summer it would be light at 3 instead of 4 , who cares)
The thinking behind it is that any daylight before 6.30am is not much use for most people and would be better served in the evening when people are awake. On the last week in march before the clocks go forward dawn is around 6 and getting earlier each day so best to use that in the evening
This morning it was around 8 and dark again at 6 so that’s about as late as you can leave it otherwise you’d be sacrificing your morning when the evening is already dark anyway.
If you’re going to school or work in Scotland , one of your journeys is going to be in the dark. Does anyone really want to have the first few hours of their day in darkness?
Ps I’m a sad c**t who works shifts outdoor for years.

[invergowrie arab]

3 minutes ago, effeffsee_the2nd said:

Does anyone really want to have the first few hours of their day in darkness?
 

Yes. If the other option is walking out of work in daylight in November/February 

[jamamafegan]

I remember working a 9-5 job indoors all day with no windows a couple of years ago. It was shite driving to work in the dark, entering the building just as it was getting light and then emerging back out at 5 and it was dark. Eternal darkness Monday to Friday. Absolutely shite. All because the Brexit voting farmers need to milk their cows and that. Get it in the bin.

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

As a lazy 9-5 office worker (pissing around at home since March), I would far prefer an extra hour of daylight at the end of the day.

[Marshmallo]

Just work an hour later in your outdoor job rather than changing the clocks

[Eednud]

They tried all year BST from 1968-1971. I sort of remember it still being dark until near 10am.
From Wikipedia:
“An inquiry during the winter of 1959–60, in which 180 national organisations were consulted, revealed a slight preference for a change to all-year GMT+1, but instead the length of summer time was extended as a trial.[12] A further inquiry during 1966–1967 led the government of Harold Wilson to introduce the British Standard Time experiment, with Britain remaining on GMT+1 throughout the year. This took place between 27 October 1968 and 31 October 1971, when there was a reversion to the previous arrangement.
Analysis of accident data for the first two years of the experiment, published by HMSO in October 1970, indicated that while there had been an increase in casualties in the morning, there had been a substantially greater decrease in casualties in the evening, with a total of around 2,700 fewer people killed and seriously injured during the first two winters of the experiment,[13]:14 (PDF p. 18)[8]:23[14] at a time when about 1,000 people a day were killed or injured on the roads.[15][16] However, the period coincided with the introduction of drink/drive legislation; the estimates were later modified downwards in 1989.[13]:14 (PDF p. 18)
The trial was the subject of a House of Commons debate on 2 December 1970[17] when, on a free vote, the House of Commons voted by 366 to 81 votes to end the experiment.[8]:25”

[NotThePars]

There was definitely some mentalist in 2014 who claimed that BST was a Westminster plot to keep Scotland in the dark for half the year and frankly it's that energy I'll miss for the inevitably duller and drearier Indyref2

[tamthebam]

I can remember as a student walking to 9 am lectures in the winter just as the sun was rising.

This was in Aberdeen which isn't all that far north compared to Wick, Orkney and Shetland. It must be shite for them in December.

And fermers may be Tory cnuts but remember that they grow grain for making whisky and beer and we might all end up just eating tatties and neeps after a hard Brexit

 

[Dee Man]

A Tory scam to help paedophiles kidnap schoolkids in the dark IMO. 

[throbber]

8 hours ago, virginton said:

Except that you've already admitted that you don't get daylight before 8am in Scotland as it is, yet you choose to bumble around in the dark like a clown running across a minefield anyway.

Truly the sort of trade whose upstanding, 'common sense' approach to working conditions will be taken seriously in this exercise.

Oh no here was me thinking this was a Select Committee meeting and not an online football forum the whole time! 

Just because guys arrive on site at 730 on site doesn’t mean they are bumbling about in the dark though - by the time the guys get out their vans and get their stuff organised it can be bright enough to start working so they don’t lose much time based on how bright it is alone with the current conditions. 
 

It’s a depressing time of year regardless, I honestly don’t think it would make anyones life better changing it. Would be quite up for changing it in the summer months like you said though, although you’d probably want to shift the time forward 2 hours.

[SlipperyP]

Keep it the same, as I now need to set my alarm at 02:30 to watch shite Scottish fitba during the week.

 

 

[Moomintroll]

11 hours ago, virginton said:

The clocks go back overnight from British Summer Time to the natural time zone for this rain-drenched rock in the Atlantic. In recent years, there have been discussions in Parliament and among (mostly) English politicians about staying on summer time all year round: meaning lighter evenings instead of the dark at half 4 misery we can expect to face from tomorrow. Would this be the right thing to do for the UK/independent Scotland?

I'm disappointed that we're not using the current pandemic as a test run for the idea. With so many people WFH, the problem of waking up to darker mornings and doing the rush hour commute barely exists any more. On the other hand, the ability to go out in the late afternoon daylight for some fresh air and exercise could be a free way of alleviating the mental and physical health impacts of lockdown measures this winter. Punt the old time zone into the sea and embrace year-round summer time IMO. 

 

Much as it pains me to admit it, you are correct here, get this pointless anachronism in the bin.