Clocks go forward one hour tonight at 1:00am on Sunday 27 March as European Summer Time begins. This means that those who get up at their normal time on Sunday will have one hour less in bed. Most of the countries in Europe still observe the tradition of putting the clocks forward an hour in March and back again in October, but there is growing pressure for the practice to be abandoned and to stay on the same time all the time.
Critics argue that changing the clocks causes disruption and that it can have severe effects on, for example, care for animals, whose body clocks don’t change overnight. Russia will put the clocks forward for the last time tonight across its nine time zones and plans to stay on permanent summer time.
By contrast, the UK government is looking at the Daylight Saving Bill which, if passed, would put the UK onto Central European Time. Clocks would still go back and forward but there would be an extra hour of daylight in the evenings.
Supporters of this move say that it would boost tourism and result in fewer road accidents. If the UK parliament voted to make the change the likelihood is that the Republic of Ireland would follow suit. sneex
