Aha, the Spectator’s cover story is gathering pace. If you were tuned into The BBC’s Daily Politics just now, then you will have enjoyed a preview of the terrific scrap this time-shifting proposal could provoke. They had on both Rebecca Harris MP, who is pushing for us to move to Central European Time (CET), and Peter Hitchens, who revealed in his article for us that the government is minded to back the idea (as well as describing Harris as “one of those homogenised, UHT female Tory MPs”). The pair were, of course, mediated by Andrew Neil.
We shall try to secure video of the discussion, if possible. But, in the meantime, it’s worth noting how Harris went out of her way to de-radicalise her position; emphasising that what is required is a “very comprehensive review across government departments” that considers both the arguments for and against, and determines which of those arguments is right. She also claimed that there would be economic benefits accruing from the move, were it to happen.
Hitchens, for his part, was understandably sceptical. He repeated his point in the latest Spectator: that this is both “a concession by David Cameron to Nick Clegg,” and a “European
Union project”. (“Absolutely ludicrous,” said Harris in response.) And he also made a persuasive case that “it’s not just highlanders and milk maids [who would be affected]
— it’s absolutely everyone.” As he puts it in his piece for us:
Anyway, I’d suggest you go to Hitchens’ article for us as swiftly as your computer will carry you. Coming so soon after the debate over an In/Out referendum, here is a story that ranges across much of the same territory — and has similar potential to move the public too.“That is why we cannot repeat the strange experiment of 1968–71, when we went halfway to Berlin. In October 1968, we did not put our clocks back as usual, but instead left them an hour ahead and stopped moving them at all thereafter. The resulting Stygian mornings in winter were loathed by all those who had to rise early. They were also followed by an increase in traffic deaths (not casualties as a whole, but deaths) which may have had something to do with the problems of children going to school on busy, poorly lit roads. Parliament, as is now forgotten, abandoned this unpopular mistake with great relief after three years.”
UPDATE: Video added above.
Comments