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.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel