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More Than 50 Percent Of People Don't Think The Clocks Should Change Today

More Than 50 Percent Of People Don't Think The Clocks Should Change Today

You'll gain an hour's sleep, but is that worth it for all the dark evenings that lie ahead?

Jake Massey

Jake Massey

Tonight (24 October) the clocks are going back - it's that time when everyone goes, 'Oh yes, I get more time in bed' - seemingly forgetting that the price is an hour's less evening light until March.

But is it time to change this time change?

We asked our followers if our current system is right and it proved quite divisive, with a slender majority of 56.8 percent voting 'no'.


Penny pincher Martin Lewis agrees with the 56.8 percent and has called for us to stay on Daylight Savings Time - proving he is just as shrewd with his daylight as he is with his cash.

He also conducted a similar poll in which 61 percent of people in the UK (excluding Scotland) voted in favour of keeping the time as it is.


For many of us, changing the time on our clocks is a biannual routine we don't give much thought to, but of course there are plenty of countries that don't do this, and we haven't always done it here.

William Willett first pitched the idea of British Summer Time (BST), also known as Daylight Saving Time, in 1907. He happens to be Coldplay singer Chris Martin's great-great-grandfather, by the way - though I can find no evidence that he inspired the hit 'Clocks'.

Anyway, unfortunately for Willett, he died before he could see his system enacted, with Germany implementing it a year after his death in 1916 and Britain following suit a month later.

Germany adopted daylight savings first, and we soon followed suit.
PA

Pretty much ever since, people have been split over whether we should keep the system as it is, stick with Daylight Saving Time all year around, or scrap it completely.

Those in favour of keeping it all year argue that it would help us to save energy, reduce traffic accidents and boost public physical and mental health - as lighter evenings give us more opportunity to exercise. And they're just nice, aren't they?

Plus, of all years, 2020 is the least deserving of an extra hour, so now's the perfect time to not turn back time.

On the flipside, a common counterargument is that children will be put at risk walking to school on dark winter mornings. People also tend to be less receptive to the idea the higher up the UK you go.

In parts of Scotland, the sun wouldn't rise fully until 10am in the deep mid-winter, which is of particular concern to farmers in the country.

Bob Carruth, a spokesman for the National Farmers Union of Scotland, told The Scotsman in 2016: "The effect on agriculture of changing the clocks by an hour has reduced over the years but it is important to bear in mind that regardless of what the actual time is on the clock, there are only a set number of daylight hours available to farmers and crofters, during which they still have to carry out the bulk of their daily work and enjoy some social life.

"Carrying out such farm work during hours of darkness remains inherently more dangerous than doing it during daylight. And it is not always an option to delay this work."

We could vote on it? Or perhaps another a referendum is the last thing we need at the moment.
PA

For this reason, some have even argued that Scotland could adopt a different time zone to the rest of the UK. You might think that such a change would never happen, but just last year the European Parliament backed a proposal to scrap clock changes, meaning member states would have to adjust (or not adjust) their clocks for the last time in March.

Former Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said: "Clock-changing must stop. Member states should themselves decide whether their citizens live in summer or winter time."

In essence then, it boils down to whether we are a nation of early birds or night owls.

I suppose calling a referendum is the only logical solution. That's bound to sort it.

Featured Image Credit: Pexels/Krivec Ales

Topics:ย UK News, Interesting