Not changing the clocks would mean that millions of tired people would be travelling to work in the dark and cold. It would be dangerous and silly to stop this part of our culture. It is there for a reason. I can remember the experiment done in the 70's. Road deaths were up.

Nicki, Southampton, Hampshire

Also, it's already quite dark when my daughter leaves for school. If the clocks didn't change it would be dangerously dark, where as if they change it is light when she leaves for school and when she comes home. In the 70's we were issued with reflective armbands for safety! Think! It's for a reason!

Nicki, Southampton, Hampshire

Matt, that's the petition for early birds who want to keep the clocks at GMT all year round

The petition for BST all year round (i.e. an hour extra daylight in the evenings) is:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/betteruseofsun/

Lesley, London,

Take this argument to its logical conclusion and we'd have to put our clocks on GMT+12 all year, so it would be 'midday' at midnight!

Paul, Coventry,

Totally agree with this, time for change.
What about bank holidays too, lets scrap them in favor of more choice when we holiday. Why are we wasting time and petrol on these bank holiday weekends in endless queues when the banks today offer 24/ 7 internet banking.

David Barton, Truro, England

Here's the link to the petition:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/clocks-change/

Regardless of what anyone says about going to bed earlier, the fact is, most people work a 9-6 day. Yes, getting up at 5 to enjoy the sunlight is possible, but social activities/classes aren't organised like that.

Kat, Balham,

Absolutely right, Stuart Hampson, we do not need the light in the mornings but would appreciate it in the evenings. School children have to go home each afternoon in the dark from next week - is this safer than in comparative light afternoons?!

John B, Mundesley,

If we shifted the clocks by about six hours we could get up in the dark (as we do) and work in the dark and then have nice light evenings till ten o clock throughout the winter.

Chris, bristol, uk

As someone who starts work at 7am, I can't wait for the clocks to change! It's depressing enough getting up in what feels like the middle of the night, but working in an extra hour of morning darkness would be positively Dickensian.

Angela, London, UK

I completely agree that it's a ridiculous ritual.Yes, winter will arrive, but a gradual change is far easier to adapt to and I certainly am more energetic during daylight hours. If the Scots object, let them have their own time zone.Is there apressure group I can join?

Sandra, Sidcup, England

I absolutely agree with everything the author says. In addition, it would help reduce the incidences of SAD and thousands of people would be much happier.

Sarah, Edinburgh,

We tried this in the 1970s (not the 1980s) and it was horrible. It was unpopular and most people were relieved to go back to the GMT. Sir Stuart's big business chums liked it because it increased their profits, but the poor mugs who had to get up in the cold and dark hated it.

Frank Upton, Solihull,

Why do we have to change the clocks anyway? I understand that it was done whne the UK was still a predominantly agricultural society but those days are long gone now so why persist with this anachonistic ritual?

I agree with Rita from Tavistock, the change plays havoc with my body clock too.

May, Edinburgh,

Those who want more daylight should move to the southern hemisphere for 6 months every September 21st.

Michael, Kangaroo Point, Australia

I suggest that for this thread anyone overseas should refrain from commenting. It is a British question. The fact is that we cannot do anyhting to make more daylight - it is a question of 'socialising' the time parameters to suit the greatest number.

Mark, Kent, UK

I agree entirely with Sir Stuart. There is clear evidence that this would be of benefit. Petition on 10 Downing St website, anyone?

ANDREW ROBINSON, SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND

Concise and brilliantly argued article. Let's do it!

Kim Penfold, Wilmslow,

Here is the petition on the No 10 website.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/clocks-change/

Matt, London,

Oh, here we go yet again.

We have GMT because midday is, amazingly, the middle of the day. If you're that fussed about wasting daylight, get up and go to bed earlier. Problem solved at a stroke. Why wait until 9am before starting work, and waiting until long after sunset to turn in for the night?

Keith, Wirral,

It does not change the number of hours of daylight. Implying otherwise is ridiculous. Very misleading article.

Charles Bockett-Pugh, Sandhurst,

I think this is a very sensible idea, and should be no more difficult or disruptive to implement than moving the clocks back in autumn and forward in spring.
I for one have signed the petition, sometimes these things do work.

James, Northamptonshire, UK

I completely agree. Lack of daylight affects most people and we do not need long dark days. Lets have light during the time we are up and about. If Scotland wants to have their own time zone, so be it, but lets have more light in England and Wales.

Gilmartin, Bristol, England

Sir Hampson writes the change can be made "at a stroke, and at no cost." Is there no cost to reordering everyone's lives, or disrupting rural economies tied closely to the real cycles of the day, or forcing the manufacturers to rework their supply chains? The totalitarian mindset on display...

Carter Wood, Washington, DC, USA

Ever since the Government reaction (i.e. completely ignore) to the petition re road pricing etc, it`s self obvious they are worth "spit", unless it`s to back up something the Government wants to self-justify anyway. STOP ASKING FOR PETITIONS!!!! You have better things to do with your life.

Jim, Herts,

Lack of daylight makes me miserable. During the day I'm at my desk. Evenings and weekends count the most. I'm asleep on a weekend early morning. Let's 'move' the light to when we can enjoy it and use the money we save on utlilities to fund some fun.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/betteruseofsun

Ged, Oxford, UK

leave it how it is.
Even with an extra hour of afternoon light I would still get out of work after dark and getting up is easier when it's light. Daylight in the morning also makes my 6.30am run a lot less spooky.

Laura M, London,

I prefer exercising in the mornings and worry far more about groggy drivers failing to notice me in the pre-dawn hours than I do when running in the evening post sunset.

To 61 year old, Sussex, try a head torch - they're great for off-road running in the dark.

Victoria, London,

No one in history has provided a sensible reason for moving the clocks at all. Let's just stick with BST all year and have done.

Simon, Bristol, UK

Everytime this sensible suggestion comes up, some Scottish nationlists with chips on their shoulders point out the darkness of winter mornings would affect them more. This mere rumble scares a Government so dependent on client Scottish votes. Hopefully now the "religon" of climate change may work.

John, London, UK

If every country changed their clocks by half an hour and then never changed again it would make the most sense as everything would average out.

What ever the clocks say there is the same amount of daylight. Can't understand why it's called daylight saving time, you can't save daylight.

Ray, Leatherhead, England

"This was tried as an experiment in the 70s...Will no one heed the lessons learnt then?" British Standard Time was..killed off by the usual alliance of Scots and agriculturalists..

MickGJ, London, UK

Why don't the Scots have their own time?

Austin Tassletine, South West , UK

We need to change the Earth's axis of rotation, so that we have the same amount of daylight everyday. Surely this will solve the problem, whereas adjusting the clock's hour hand only battles the symptom.

Joseph Rogers, Warwick, UK

Ed London. Moving the clock does not give you an extra hour of daylight. That you found this "extra hour" wonderful in Holland suggests that you were smoking something.

Donald, London,

Let the sheep keep GMT in the winter while you get up an hour early, go to work an hour early, come home from work an hour early, and go for a run.

You get all the benefits of sticking with BST in the winter, plus you miss the rush hour while the sheep bleat on about their miserable dark evenings.

Brian Eave, Pembroke,

I hope Sir Stuart or a colleague will place a petition for his proposal on the Downing Street website. I'm sure millions will sign it.

Bob, London,

Two years ago I visited Granade, in the far south of Spain, in January. It was not light in the mornings until well after nine o'clock. More daylight in the eveniungs was pleasant, but getting going in the mornings was miserable.

Swings and roundabouts.

Ann, Plymouth,

If lives really are saved by adopting a particular time zone, then it would surely be worthwhile to do so. There must already be enough data from the developed world to establish the facts. Statistics from similar cities in the same time zone but 15 degrees apart will surely give us the answer.

Ron Osmond, Hinckley,

A huge number of people work flexitime. So leisure activities - not working hours - anchor their day to the country's standard time. If they just stopped being a slave to the TV schedules then they could get up and go to bed whenever they pleased.

Brian Eave, Pembroke,

Wouldn't the compromise be to have GMT until the end of February instead of the end of March? So we have 8 months of BST instead of 7?

Helen, Fleet, UK

The RoSPA study is deeply discredited. The one country that tried this saw a rise in accidents - Portugal - an empirical fact rather than dubious assertion. Faulty causal analysis and an ability to interpret statistics keeps these myths going.

C Wall, St Neots, UK

The world is round. If there was any benefit from time change it would apply to the rest of the world, who would then change accordingly. Anyone who employs the 'Channel Tunnel' argument obviously does not realise this simple fact and their whole argument is therefore suspect.

Rob, Reading, UK

If it is such a good idea to move your clocks one time zone to the east, why has Germany not done so? If you go by longitude, it should be in zone B (UTC +2).
British Standard Time was utterly miserable in winter - both get up and come home from school in dark. We were all given reflective armbands

Leon, London,

It was tried in the 70s Dave Holt not the 80s and the result was a lot of accidents in the early morning dark, particularly involving children on their way to school. I remember the misery very well.
Get your facts right please.

CA Metcalfe, Essex,

Is there an online partition I can sign, and if not why not. Things like this only change when enough people are seen to back it . I for one would back this change, it would massively cut our carbon emissions at a stroke and save everyone a great deal of money.

Roderick Melling, Oswestry, UK

T Hunter, more children are killed in the dark on the way home than are killed in the dark on the way to school. When the clocks change it will start getting dark at about 5.30 pm on Sunday, and by December will be dark at 3.00 pm. Put the clocks the other way.

David Leslie, Perth, Scotland

More importantly: when will the government see the light?
They work in the dark all year round.

NOTE: humans have circadian clock and are best mentally
and physically, in daylight.
Therefore, UK should be organizing maximum daylight
for each month.
Schools can adjust their attendance hours.

Leigh Vernier, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

i worked for a while in Holland, and through the winter the sun rose at 9am and set at around 5-5.30. In summer it was light until 11.30pm. It was wonderful to have another hour of daylight throughout the year. We are integrated with Europe, and should scrap the time difference.

Ed, London,

1) All that happens is that instead of alert people driving home in the dark, you get tired people driving to work in the dark. Guess which causes more accidents?

2) For businesses, California would be more than 8 hours away.

3) Work hard and you can set your own hours anyway.

Ian Kemmish, Biggleswade, UK

There is a perfectly simple way of achieving the same without changing the clock. Government Offices, businesses, transport, shops etc., should commence the day one hour earlier eg at 7am or 8am, and close one hour earlier.
The hours of daylight are determined by the sun not the clock!

Colin, London, UK

"Analysis of the Home Office British Crime Survey shows that more than half of criminal offences take place in the hours of darkness and far more of those offences committed in semi-darkness occur at dusk than dawn." So by altering the hour we just shift the time of the offences. That cuts crime?

Eddie, Toledo, Spain

"This was tried as an experiment in the 70s...Will no one heed the lessons learnt then?"
British Standard Time was a success by any objective standards but was killed off by the usual alliance of Scots and agriculturalists, both of whose influence over the nation as a whole is waning. End GMT now!

MickGJ, London, UK

The author makes the mistake of thinking changing the clocks will give us more daylight: it won't. Three won't be a 'later sunset' either, we'll just call it later. If he doesn't like things he should simply get up earlier nd go to bed earlier, leaving the rest of us in peace at nature's time.

Tim Hedges, Panicale, Italy

Why change the clocks at all? Why not leave the time at GMT+1 all year round? For me, changing the clocks is a nightmare - my body clock objects to it every time! And mums with infants also go through hell! Abolish the switch between summer and winter time, and let us cope as we did before 1916.

Rita, Tavistock,

I am all for staying on GMT+1. My husband & I both go to work at 6am , and the darkness isn't an issue, but it is nice to come home in daylight. I have SAD and I think the clocks going back have something to do with it.

Vanessa, Leigh,

Oh for an extra hour's daylight every evening 365 days a year. I have to curtail my summer outdoor activities such as gardening and cycling, and forgo my after work keeping fit in winter (I cannot do off road running in the dark and only roads with no pavements and few lights where I live).

61 year old, Sussex,

This was tried as an experiment in the 70s for 3 years and was so unpopular it was stopped.
Will no one heed the lessons learnt then?
It was miserable and depressing. Going to school in the dark, watching the sun rise at 9 from my desk and dark again by the time I got home. BTW this was in Essex.

CA Metcalfe, Essex,

In southern England there are eight hours of daylight in midwinter and 16 in midsummer and fiddling around with the clocks twice a year makes absolutely no difference to this fact of life. Summer time is an absurd anachronism which should be discarded without further delay.

john, exeter, england

There are not many that live farther north than me, I am in favour of changing the system, as are many of the people I kNOw.

Roy, Stornoway, uk

It is the Scotch who keep blocking this much needed reform.

Another good reason why we need an ENGLISH parliament, and let Scotland go its own way

Peter GODDARD, EPSOM, England, EU

Nasty little Englander comments ignoring the sensible reasons given for change, and the maybe more compelling one that countries around us have their clocks coordinated ie Norway , Sweden etc and live very comfortably with these clocks being one hour in front of ours.

Antony, London, UK

This annual messing about the clocks may have made sense in the days of shift work and war production, but it it is nonsense now. Let's keep our true time: GMT.

If our time were unchanged throughout the year, each of us could then adapt our daily routine to suit it.

Chris Rose, Sunderland,

We should stick with the annual change between summer time and GMT.

If you want to get up early or stay up late what difference do the hands on a clock make - bugger all!.

If you can't cope with driving in the dark then you shouldn't live in the UK - or anywhere else on planet earth.

Martin, Leeds, England

I'd like 2 hours more light in the evenings, please. They turn the clocks the wrong way.

Ty, Tyn-y-gongl , Wales

Children north of London would travel to school completely in the dark if this nonsense succeeds. Sunrise in Dec. in Aberdeen is 8.23-8.48 NOW. NB For Little Englanders, Bristol isn't much different: 8.14 mid-Dec (8.04 for London) Add another hour's darkness to those & cost kids' lives ? Mad !

T Hunter, London,

If far more crimes are committed at dusk than dawn, how will SDDST affect this? We'll still have dusk and we'll still have dawn. And if lobbyists must keep quoting the RSPoA's magic '450 lives saved' figure, then the RSPoA should make its methodology available to the public for MUCH closer scrutiny.

Justine Parks, London, England

Absolutely. It's all down to vanity. We set up a world time system - GMT - but for maritime/navigational reasons chose the wrong time. The farmers don't care as they work all hours anyway. Only some pathetic imperial vanity leads us to hang on to this impractical, depressing seasonal gloom. Viva BST

jack, Marlborough, Wiltshire

Sir Stuart does not mention the Scots, who have so far successfully blocked any change. But that won't be a problem after Scottish independence. Edinburgh can stay in the same time zone as Lisbon, and London can join Paris, Brussels and Berlin in GMT+1 and GMT+2. It's long overdue.

JF, Canterbury, UK

There's the feel-good factor of returning home in daylight as well!

rob, southampton, uk

A more balanced proposal would be to move the March clock change to the weekend closest to St. Valentine's weekend. At mid-February the sun is in the sky for the same lenght as late October, so ti would not hinder northern farmers while boosting SAD sufferers!

Doug, Glasgow, Scotland

Here's a novel idea. Keep GMT or BST throughout the year but agree to different working hours during winter and summer. (eg. Go to work at 9.00am in Summer and 10.00am in Winter) No need to reset times. After all the alarm clock has already been invented!

John Goode, Welwyn Garden City, UK

This was tried in the 80s with the results you state.It is only done to placate a bunch of Scottish farmers.Let Scotland have it's own time zone,they have no time for us,ask Andy Murray.Winter will seem a whole lot shorter if we leave the hour alone.

Dave Holt, Blackpool, England