Sir, – At this time of the year “a grand stretch in the evenings” is a familiar topic of conversation. The welcome that this experience in our planet’s yearly orbit receives is tempered by the realisation that we in Europe must wait until the final Sunday of March before “the clocks go forward” to Summertime.
There is a strange anomaly here. When “the clocks go back” on the last Sunday of October, we experience about nine hours and 40 minutes of daylight. Daylight then shortens as winter advances but lengthens after the winter solstice, until it is again about 9 hours and 40 minutes on February 12th.
Perhaps we could put pressure on our election candidates to commit to persuading our European partners to bring our clocks forward in February rather than March. “We will brighten your day” could even become an election slogan. – Yours, etc,
JACK MORRISSEY
Dublin 16.