Up and Coming: What difference would double summertime make to you?

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

What difference would double summertime make to you?

A proposal to move the nation's clocks forward by one hour to so-called "double summertime" will be published this week. So what difference would it make to sunrise and sunset in towns and cities across the UK?

Prime Minister David Cameron has said any plans to give the UK brighter and longer evenings will only become a reality if it's clear that the country is behind it.

But support for the move, which would make mornings darker, may depend upon where people are.

If you live in London, then sunset would be at 2222 on 21 June, which is the longest day of the year. But in the winter solstice, on 21 December, it would be dark until sunrise at 0904.

It would be a very different experience if you lived in Thurso in the Scottish Highlands, where under "double summertime", the sun would not set until 2236 in mid-summer but it would not rise until 1003 in mid-winter, a long time after children had started school lessons.

So how would it affect you? Seven cities are mapped above, and below, there are 10 more cities around the UK with the new sunrise and sunset times on the longest and shortest days of the year.

This article is from the BBC News website. � British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.