RICHARD Mowbray (Letters, October 22) castigates the EU for standardising the autumn clock change. I once had a bizarre weekend travelling from the UK to the Netherlands, then to Germany, then to Denmark. I lost track of how many times I had to change my watch as these countries had different change dates. So no harm in the EU standardising this. But do we need to change times at all?

A hundred years ago, when factories were mostly lit by natural light, there might have been a certain logic, but do we need this autumnal plunge into evening gloom today? Why not just let the natural season and light cycle run?

Russia set the example in 2011 under President Medvedev by abolishing the time change on the basis that people would be happier and healthier to follow natural biorhythms. President Putin, somewhat childishly, reversed every single change Medvedev’s administration made, including the abolition of time change. But why cannot the UK follow Russia’s 2011 example?

And please, can we forget the old chestnut that Scottish cows shouldn’t be milked in the dark. Having been in a Scandinavian byre during winter milking, I can assure you that the cows don’t mind one way or the other.

Russell Vallance,

4 West Douglas Drive, Helensburgh.