WeX Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 All this talk of changing our time zones to fit in the the EU made sense to me until I saw this map: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/02/20/article-1358801-0D47BD2B000005DC-871_468x417.jpg What is apparent is France, Spain and Belgium etc should really be on GMT not CET. Should time be so easily messed with or should it be something governed by international agreement. It seems odd that Spain for example can be on CET when they are more west than the UK. Why should we change? Its GMT for a reason! Better map here: http://www.worldtimezone.com/wtz008.php Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HbroChris Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 It's GMT because we had the empire. I can see the sense in all of Europe using CET purely for business reasons. There have been people saying we should move the clocks forward permanently just so we get more useful daylight and so make roads safer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeadingNorth Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 It's chiefly a question of energy usage. An 18-hour day in June, if we remained on GMT as opposed to British Summer Time, would see dawn at 3am and sunset at 9pm. Almost nobody is up and about before 6, and almost everybody is still awake after 9; which means daylight goes to waste and we put lights on at night, consuming energy. Move the clock an hour forward, as we currently do, means a 4am-10pm day, which is an improvement; 5am to 11pm, or even 6pm to midnight, would be better still. The alternative would be to leave the clocks where they belong and simply change our living habits; but imagine the reaction if Government were to tell the general public that they had to start work at 7am instead of 9! Whereas, if you change the clocks and pretend that it really is 9am, they will happily go to work without a murmur. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happ Hazzard Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Could we not just change GMT to 2 hours ahead of what it currently is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeadingNorth Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Could we not just change GMT to 2 hours ahead of what it currently is? No. Greenwich Mean Time is an international standard, and fixed. We could abandon it and start using our own standard but that would be utterly ridiculous. We would simply refer to "British Time" and "British Summer Time" or something alone those lines, which would be 1hour/2hours ahead of GMT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest sibon Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Could we not just change GMT to 2 hours ahead of what it currently is? Only if you are prepared to tilt the Earth on its axis during the winter. CET is the answer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HbroChris Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 Could we not just change GMT to 2 hours ahead of what it currently is? I think it would be really useful, but then I'm something of a night owl anyway. Although if we changed, I would then be more of a day owl. Which is stupid. Does anyone know what the max/min number of daylights hours are in the UK? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jason Bourne Posted February 20, 2011 Share Posted February 20, 2011 ...imagine the reaction if Government were to tell the general public that they had to start work at 7am instead of 9! Whereas, if you change the clocks and pretend that it really is 9am, they will happily go to work without a murmur. Oh no, we'll do it, but we'll kick up a fuss x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tuffy 69 Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 according to the papers today the coalition government want to put the clocks forward 2 hours to boost tourism,personally i think its a bad idea due to kids going to school on darker mornings,whats your thoughts on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leelax Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 This get suggested often, nothing ever happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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