EU law requires that citizens in all 28 EU countries move their clocks an hour forward on the last Sunday in March and switch back to winter time on the final Sunday in October.
The argument about daylight savings has been going on for decades. Indeed, I recall an experiment back when I was a child and we went to school in the dark. That lasted one winter. The decision ultimately will be whether it adversely affects the country as a whole – and that includes are we in alignment with our trading neighbours, should that even be an issue as we trade outside the EU without worrying too much about the time of day.
Thing is, it should be a decision made at a national level and a national level alone. There is no reason that this matter should be an EU law. None whatsoever.
Can we leave yet?
However there is no EU law stating which time zone is the base. The EEA Countries, UK, Ireland, Portugal and Iceland use GMT, the others use GMT+1.
The issue with European neighbours, is if the UK stays as is, it will make the time difference 3 hours in Winter and 2 hours in Summer. And yes that is a problem for business communication and scheduling meetings. It is not insurmountable as the US manages with multiple time zones, but there will be a cost.
It may also have implications for London, since European market traders will be at their desks well ahead of UK traders.
I’d be more than happy to remain on BST.
I’d be more than happy to remain on GMT
That’s how it was when you remember going to school in the dark. It was called British Standard Time and ran from 1968 to 1971. I remember that, too. Given my present location, I don’t have a dog in this fight.
Yep, prep school I attended issued a pair of retro-reflective arm-bands to every pupil. Dark “mornings” are unnatural and SAD
“There is no reason that this matter should be an EU law. None whatsoever.”
For once we agree on something from the EU (although I’m sure, CBA to check, that the previous directives were with yUK ‘input’ and acquiescence).
I’m sure they were. But my point as always, is that there should be no such thing as EU law – merely national law.
My daughter was offered a job with a company that did most of their business with the US. It was very well paid but she turned it down due to the odd working hours. The company was based in London but worked when US companies were working.
When it comes to daylight saving time, during winter it makes sense for the majority of workers to be going out of their front door around the time that it is starting to get light. Obviously that time is going to be different for different geographical locations so having a Europe wide standard is a stupid idea.
We are kidding ourselves. If the going-to-school-in-dark thing was an honest worry then school start time should change maybe not every day, but weekly or monthly. But we are trapped because the whole world fools itself, even near the poles with month long nights.
When working with other time zones – in engineering I found it an advantage. You get a problem in your morning, work on it and then your friend in the different time zone gets an answer first thing in his/her morning. I found this most useful when I, working for a UK company, was working with Americans in S. Korea. Queries to US or UK would be worked on while we slept with an solution given to us in morning. Customer was pleased.
Nice to see that the EU has so much time on it’s hands, what with Brexit negotiations dragging, at least 4 EU countries bordering on bankruptcy, race riots in Germany, Trump wrecking the entire world and Putin spying on most of it.
If countries are advancing/retarding their clocks for daylight saving then it makes sense that the clocks change on the same day worldwide as that makes the time difference between countries constant.
There was a time when the UK clocks changed on a different day to those in Holland and even now we change at a different time to Canada.
As to whether a given country should use daylight saving, well that is a different issue and to some extent depends on the latitude. The amount of sunlight is fixed by geography and the earth’s rotation and changing clocks can’t change that. Once that fact is realised there is an argument that clocks around the world should read the same, so we get up at 0700 GMT and the New Zealanders at 1900 GMT, (that does mean that their day changes five hours later, but tough, they should have thought about that before they moved there!).