The 1926 clock which sat at WGC railway station
Extending BST will not work
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
11:42 AM
I REALLY am alarmed at the proposals to extend British Summer Time. It is typical of modern legislation, first mentioned a year or so ago: it creeps in by stealth and is necessary, we are told, to bring us in line with the rest of Europe – the Europe that is about to break up.
We have traded with Europe for centuries with no disadvantage, and today overseas traders are used to world markets and world time zones. Changing our time will have absolutely no effect.
Then we are told that tourism will benefit. I fail to understand why. The day length will remain the same, but winter visitors – are there really that many – will have to remain in bed an hour longer.
Farmers are in favour? I don’t think so. Show me a farmer who is happy to wait until 9 in the morning before beginning to harvest winter vegetables or tending his livestock or crops. As a retired farmer, I can confirm that my staff always preferred to start early and be home in the early evening with their family.
Most worrying, though, apart from the amazing claims of savings amounting to millions a year with no explanation, is the suggestion that lives will be saved. How?
In my village the narrow busy lane to our school is always shady and damp: any frost or snow often remains for days. Will the proponents of this craziness please tell me how, when children throughout the UK are walking to school in the dark (yes they will be), they are not more at risk.
Please put a stop to this madness: we’ve tried it before and it did not work then, and it will not work now.
ROGER T PINNER
Caxton End
Eltisley
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1 comments
Hooray for Robert Pinner! (Letters January 25th). I was beginning to think it was only me and the Scots who were against the Extension of British Summer Time. I remember the last time it was tried 40 years ago. Starting a day's work without the daylight was no fun. Children going to school in the dark had to be kitted out with fluorescent armbands and stripes on their coats because of the increased danger to their safety. In many towns the lollipop lady has been made redundant, so children will be even more vulnerable. School hours were altered a few years back so that children could both go to school and come home in daylight. This is a backward step in that respect alone. I also remember double British Summer Time during the war. At the time it was absolutely necessary so that farmers could have extra daylight to maximise food production. U-boats made the seas unsafe and we couldn't import from abroad as we had previously. However it was stressful for ordinary families having daylight till 10pm and later. Children couldn't sleep and saw no reason to go to bed when it was hot and sunny. It used to drive my mother up the wall! Anyway, I should think the supposed extra hordes of tourists would also welcome dusk and a winding down - I know I do on a hot, summer day. So to summarise: extra dark in the winter - when there are no tourists anyway - and extra light in the summer. No, thank you!
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old biddy
Saturday, January 28, 2012