Further to my previous post

ww.rospa.com/campaigns-fundraising/current/lighter-evenings/

Ross, "I think the main advantage to staying on GMT +1 all year round is (according to the Royal Society for the prevention of accidents) few road deaths."

That may be so but I remember ROSPA coming up not with a round and believable figure but some ridiculously precise figure (like 396 few deaths or something), which was an early experience for me of "experts" betraying scientific integrity for political ends.

Mark Hodgson

I think the main advantage to staying on GMT +1 all year round is (according to the Royal Society for the prevention of accidents) few road deaths.

Currently broadcasting on Radio 4, Graham MacGregor , an anti-salt guru. Turned me off in the first few minutes with a statement (later repeated) that no mammal eats salt. Having camped near salt licks in Northern Saskatchewan, I know this to be totally wrong. I saw more wildlife there than anywhere else.

On the GMT debate, I'm happy with the current situation, but with one major criticism - and therefore I would recommend one change. The clocks go back in the last weekend in October - i.e. about 7-8 weeks before the winter solstice - so why do we have to wait until the end of March - i.e. over 3 months after the winter solstice - before they go forward again? I would put them forward in the second weekend in February instead.

The "save the planet brigade" should support that, since people going out to work would be likely to have their home central heating running for an hour less every working day between early February and late March on that basis. That's lots of oil and gas not being used on that basis, plus more usable daylight for most people.

Pcar

We tried CET in Ireland when we joined the EEC. After 2 years we went back to GMT - even then sunrise in Galway is 40 minutes after it happens in Greenwich. Spain being on CET is a bit of lunacy. The 10ºW longitude passes through A Coruna so their sunrise is 40 minutes after Greenwich and 1hr 40 mins after Berlin time.

Pcar
Are you suggesting we move back to "Bristol Time" without calling it that?
As the Greenwich Meridian passes through a large part of France (i'm closer to it here than I was in Derby or Perthshire) and Spain it would make more sense for them to switch to GMT/BST; national sensibilities and pride get in the way of that. Being further West compounds the problem, Stornoway time will be different from Edinburgh time.

Pcar. B2B? Yes, I suppose so - I used to advise solicitors. The only point I was trying to make is that if you work for a number of different clients a "universal" holiday is welcome as a time when most people will be on holiday.