Is it time to scrap changing the clocks?

THE EU proposal to maintain summer time throughout the year should not apply to Britain. An experiment of year-round summer time from 1968 to 1970, when it didn’t get light until well after 9am in winter, was halted because it was so unpopular. Many working people did not see their homes in daylight between Sunday afternoon and Saturday morning in winter. It was a thoroughly miserable experience. I can understand why countries in central and eastern Europe might welcome the proposal, so it would be a better solution to have the eastern part of the Central European time zone two hours ahead of GMT/BST, not one. As for the claim that it would lead to fewer road accidents, this was last proposed in 2004. I did research using government casualty figures for 2003, which showed more children are injured on light summer evenings than dark winter ones. M. HEYMER, dereham, norfolk. I’M DISMAYED the EU is intending to scrap daylight saving. Some people advocate GMT+2, but my parents told me how awful it was when double summer time was introduced during World War II and it didn’t get dark until 11pm. Imagine the stress and noise if that were the case in our crowded inner cities. Having lighter mornings is psychologically beneficial. In late afternoon, it doesn’t matter when it gets dark as most of us are indoors. CAROLE STIMSON, London SE27. I SUPPORT not changing the clocks twice a year. In the mid-Nineties, Portugal tried Berlin Time: GMT+1 hour in winter and GMT+2 hours in summer. There was an increase in stress levels, depression, insomnia and the use of sleeping pills. No amount of fiddling about with clocks is going to increase the hours of daylight. MRS JENNIFER CORDWELL, Bognor regis, W. Sussex.