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Macneil is off his axis 31/10/11
Sirs,
Here we go again. The old chestnut of should we leave the clocks on British Summer Time or plunge headlong into afternoon darkness, rears its ugly head again.
The UK Government want to start a three-
However, on cue, as regular as clockwork and like Dracula rising from his coffin at sunset, comes Angus MacNeil MP to kick the idea into touch.
The usual arguments are trotted out including schoolchildren, farmers, milkmen and the concept of them groping around in the dark until 9am.
The fact of the matter is that all of the above will already be at their place of work or study by this time, having groped around in the dark to get to where they were going. When they return home in the afternoon, it will be as black as Newgate’s knocker.
Yesterday it was light at 7.00am but as dark as the grave by 5.00pm. In just a couple of weeks time it will be dark again at 7.00am and in not so many weeks time it would seem as if the clocks had never been tinkered with at all. At the other end of the day, some extra light could be salvaged if we were to remain on BST.
It is all due to the very northerly and westerly location of the Western Isles and
the axial tilt of the planet. The sun takes a long while to poke its head above
the horizon in the morning and takes just as long to disappear in the evening. It
is not about politics or a north-
There is something deeply unpleasant about the gloom that descends upon us in the early evening and afternoon, not to mention having to use more electricity, heating, etc., which, in turn costs the average punter hundreds of pound each year.
The sums have been carried out, as has the effect on business and the economy. The Russians have come around to the idea that dark afternoons make people very, very miserable. I am pretty miserable on a normal sort of day, so yesterday when the day ended at 4.30pm, I felt as cheerful as an episode of Eastenders. I don’t think I am unique in my misery.
This evening when everyone’s little treasures are roaming the streets dressed as Freddie Kruger or the beast with five heads, it will be pitch black, when on BST they would have some light to guide them on their way.
I wonder how many more think that the Scottish government should at least agree to the trial of leaving the clocks alone? Dismissing it out of hand fuels the debate. Perhaps we should have a referendum on the subject?! I’m off to dust down the broom.
Helen Blake
16a Lemreway
Lewis
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