Moving the UK to CET/CEST
The UK government’s recent idea to move the UK from GMT/BST to CET/CEST and the Scottish Government’s refusal to play along is quite interesting.
Let’s have a look at various locations in the UK and compare it with a city on the same longitude but further south, Málaga:
Equinox (23/09/2011):
| Location | Sunrise GMT/BST | Sunset GMT/BST | Sunrise CE(S)T | Sunset CE(S)T |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inverness | 7:05 | 19:13 | 8:05 | 20:13 |
| Glasgow | 7:05 | 19:13 | 8:05 | 20:13 |
| Belfast | 7:12 | 19:19 | 8:12 | 20:19 |
| London | 6:49 | 18:56 | 7:49 | 19:56 |
| Málaga | 7:07 | 19:13 | 8:07 | 20:13 |
Obviously there’s not much difference between any of these locations, and one might argue that CEST is a better time zone at this time of the year.
Summer solstice (21/06/2011):
| Location | Sunrise GMT/BST | Sunset GMT/BST | Sunrise CE(S)T | Sunset CE(S)T |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inverness | 4:20 | 22:17 | 5:20 | 23:17 |
| Glasgow | 4:33 | 22:04 | 5:33 | 23:04 |
| Belfast | 4:49 | 22:02 | 5:49 | 23:02 |
| London | 4:44 | 21:19 | 5:44 | 22:19 |
| Málaga | 6:00 | 20:38 | 7:00 | 21:38 |
At all of the UK locations, the sun rises at an impossibly early time, so either time zone is feasible in the morning. In the evening, either time zone is feasible in Scotland, but I can understand if people in London would rather have brighter evenings.
Winter solstice (22/12/2011):
| Location | Sunrise GMT/BST | Sunset GMT/BST | Sunrise CE(S)T | Sunset CE(S)T |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inverness | 9:00 | 15:30 | 10:00 | 16:30 |
| Glasgow | 8:48 | 15:43 | 9:48 | 16:43 |
| Belfast | 8:47 | 15:58 | 9:47 | 16:58 |
| London | 8:05 | 15:52 | 9:05 | 16:52 |
| Málaga | 7:28 | 17:04 | 8:28 | 18:04 |
This is the problematic time. In London, it’s probably not a big deal whether the sun rises at 9 instead of 8, and they would enjoy having daylight until 5pm (and this tendency is even more pronounced in Málaga). However, in Northern Ireland and Scotland, it would mean not seeing the sun till around 10am in the winter, which makes for very depressing mornings.
I must therefore support the Scottish Government’s stance on this – moving to a time zone further east makes good sense the further south you are, but north of 50°N it’s not a good idea (remember also that most of the UK is further west than London).
I probably believe so more strongly because of growing up in Denmark. In Denmark, schools normally start at 8am, not at 9am like in Scotland. The effect is therefore the same as if Scotland moved to CE(S)T. And I must say that I found going to school in the winter utterly depressing, and I was very happy to move to a country where people get up later in the morning.