Let’s put an end to daylight robbery
- By Madeline Carroll -
- Jan 17, 2012
Richard Branson wrote a blog on it being Time to change Britain's time zone? Madeline Carroll from 10:10 explains further about the advantages and the vote in Parliament on Friday.
Everyone loves the sunshine, but the way the UK sets it clocks means we miss out on hundreds of hours of it every year. If you live in the UK and go to bed at 11pm tonight, for example, it will already have been dark for about six hours. Tired of being kept in the dark? Read on.
Lighter Later is campaigning to shift the clocks forward by one hour throughout the entire year, moving an hour of daylight from the morning to the evening, when more of us are able to enjoy it.
The campaign is going pretty well so far. This Friday, MPs will gather in the House of Commons to vote on a bill that could make lighter evenings a reality. The Daylight Saving Bill calls on the government to carry out a comprehensive review of the pros and cons of clock change and then, with the backing of the devolved governments, carry out a three-year trial of whichever system looks most promising.
But this won’t be the first time anyone’s looked into the issue. Over the years, researchers have uncovered a remarkable array of benefits associated with extra evening daylight. The latest research shows that this low-cost change could save over 80 lives on our roads every year, make children more active and cut obesity levels, save at least half a million tonnes of CO2 emissions every year, and even create jobs by boosting the leisure and tourism sector. If this is starting to sound like a no-brainer, it’s because it is!
The campaign is gaining momentum, with backing from all the UKs major road safety bodies, sporting organisations, the tourism sector, environmental campaigners and big and small business alike.
Meanwhile opposition to change is melting away. Today, the old arguments about milkmen and postal workers needing early-morning sunlight to carry out deliveries look exactly like what they are – arguments from the 1970s. The National Farmers Union, which had been a vocal critic of earlier proposals, recently announced that the reasons for farmers’ past opposition to advancing the clocks had been ‘lost in history’, and that they no longer mind one way or the other.
This is an idea whose time has come. All that is needed now is one big push from the British public, and the UK could soon be enjoying an extra hour of evening sunshine every day. This Friday’s debate in parliament is crucial. You can help by making sure your MP comes along. Ready to step into the sun?
Find out more and get involved, visit:
Website: www.lighterlater.org
Twitter: @10:10
By Madeline Carroll. Blogs at lighterlater and tweets at @1010
This guest blog complies to Virgin.com terms & conditions.
