Do we need to change the clocks twice a year?

THE clocks have been turned back and doom, gloom and misery has descended upon the land. I know we have to consider the Cornish schoolchildren and Scottish farmers, but I can’t help feeling the danger and inconvenience to these minority groups is exaggerated. Could we not compromise by extending British Summer Time by a month at each end so dark evenings only run for three months from the end of November to the end of February? JIM PEACE, Huntingdon, Cambs.

I REMEMBER the three-year trial around the early Seventies when we had to endure British Summer Time all year round. It was awful — people went to work in pitch darkness as it didn’t get light until 9am or later, depending on where you lived, and there were more accidents. At the end of the trial, people were begging to go back to daylight saving and the normal cycle of the clocks going forward an hour in March and back an hour at the end of October. There are only 24 hours in a day and you can’t manipulate nature. We need morning daylight to awaken our minds and bodies. Mrs J. GREY, Ashford, Kent.

I NEEDED a lie-in on Sunday after staying up until 2am to put all my clocks back one hour. K. O. JONES, Rock Ferry, Wirral.