Why Are We Still Changing the Clocks?
Twice every year, Britain performs one of its strangest national rituals. In spring, we collectively agree to move an hour into the future, while autumn sees us putting everything back again. Most modern phones and computers handle the change automatically, although there is usually at least one clock somewhere in the house that remains wrong until somebody finally notices.
On Sunday 25 October 2026, British Summer Time comes to an end, and the clocks go backwards by one hour, returning the country to Greenwich Mean Time. For many people, that means the welcome prospect of an extra hour in bed, although it also signals the arrival of darker evenings and the familiar feeling that winter has suddenly moved considerably closer.
The question is why we still do it.
An idea from more than a century ago
The origins of British Summer Time are closely associated with William Willett, a British builder who became frustrated by what he considered the unnecessary waste of daylight during summer mornings. In 1907, he published a pamphlet called The Waste of Daylight, arguing that adjusting the clocks would allow people to make better use of lighter evenings.
His proposal initially struggled to gain support, but the First World War changed attitudes. Britain introduced seasonal clock changes in 1916, partly as a wartime measure intended to reduce fuel consumption and make more productive use of daylight.
The arrangement continued after the war and eventually became such a familiar feature of British life that many people stopped questioning why it existed.
Yet the country has actually experimented with changing the system before. Between 1968 and 1971, Britain tried remaining on British Summer Time throughout the year, effectively abandoning the autumn clock change. The experiment was eventually discontinued following considerable opposition, particularly over darker winter mornings in northern parts of the country.
The problem with moving daylight around
Changing the clocks does not, of course, give us any additional daylight. It simply changes where the available daylight falls within our daily routines, creating benefits for some people while potentially introducing disadvantages for others.
Supporters of keeping lighter evenings argue that they encourage outdoor activity and could improve road safety during the hours when many people are travelling home. Others point towards the difficulties caused by darker winter mornings, particularly for schoolchildren, commuters and people working outdoors.
Geography complicates matters further. The experience of winter daylight in southern England is considerably different from that in Scotland, meaning a permanent clock arrangement that feels perfectly reasonable in London might prove less appealing in Aberdeen or Inverness.
There is also the argument that modern life looks rather different from the society that introduced British Summer Time in 1916. Flexible working, electric lighting, international business and technologies that operate continuously have changed how we organise our days, although they have not eliminated the practical importance of daylight.
Is it finally time to stop?
The debate over changing the clocks has continued for decades without producing a solution that satisfies everyone. Keeping British Summer Time throughout the year might provide lighter winter evenings, but it would also mean later winter sunrises. Remaining permanently on Greenwich Mean Time would remove the inconvenience of changing clocks, but sacrifice some of those long summer evenings.
For now, Britain continues with the familiar arrangement, and millions of us will once again enjoy an extra hour in bed before spending the following week wondering why it suddenly feels so dark when we finish work.
Perhaps the strangest part is that more than a century after William Willett first suggested changing the clocks, Britain still cannot quite agree on what time it would prefer the sun to rise.
