The Daily Express is calling on the Government to move UK time forward by an hour permanently, bringing the country into line with much of the rest of Europe.
Bring Britain into line with Europe? You don't hear that very often from the Express.
The campaign launched with a bit of a whimper when the most vocal media opposition came from the, err, Scottish Daily Express.
Well, tonight the clocks will be put back an hour. As the Express hasn't got its way, it's claiming the country is going to plunged into 'chaos':
Britons face a day of chaos tomorrow as the clocks turn back an hour, plunging the country into evening darkness.
A third of us will oversleep, 20 per cent will wake up to a cold house after forgetting to change the central heating timer and one in eight will arrive at work late over the coming days.
That's a few minor inconveniences for a minority of people. It's not 'chaos'.
But how come the Express hasn't go its way? After all, on Thursday they were claiming that '29 million people' supported their 'crusade':
As Atomic Spin observed:
Wait, 29 million? That sounds a bit much, surely? The turnout at the last general election was only 29.6 million – are you telling me as many people care about the Daily Express‘s “crusade” as care about national politics in general?
Well, no. Of course not. What the Express did was take a poll that found 58% of people supported their plan, worked out what 58% of the population (of England, it seems) is, and then claimed that many people therefore backed their cause.
The Express also claimed:
Concerns are also mounting about children walking home in the dark and the danger of personal injury, with one in four people saying they feel more at risk as evenings draw in.Atomic Spin points out:
In addition, some 36 per cent – 17.7 million people – believe there is an increased chance of road traffic accidents, and one in four also insist they feel more at risk from burglary.
In other words, 3 in 4 do not feel more at risk, 64% of people did not say they believed there was an increased chance of road traffic accidents, and 3 in 4 do not feel at risk of burglary.
On Monday, the paper's editorial said:
Next week we’ll put back the clocks and plunge properly into winter.
It’s a gloomy prospect so no wonder support is growing for the Daily Express crusade to stop this wholly detrimental annual ritual.
Is support 'growing' for the Express' crusade? Well, the latest poll quoted by the paper shows support at 58%.
Alas, a poll conducted the day after the crusade was launched showed support at, err, 60%.
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The Daily Express would ideally like the clocks to go back about 50 years...
ReplyDeleteAh, chaos, the Daily Express's favourite state of affairs.
ReplyDeleteSince putting the clocks back hasn't caused "chaos" in any previous year I can remember, I'm not sure why it should suddenly do so now.
Anyway, unless I'm mistaken, putting the clocks back gives us an extra hour in bed, so people are more likely to inadvertently get up early than to oversleep.
"A third of us will oversleep (...) and one in eight will arrive at work late over the coming days."
ReplyDeleteI love this sentence, the first part for the implication that you Brits ALL work on Sundays, and the second part for the suggestion that putting the clock back one hour causes a jet lag that takes several days to shake off.
The Express is obviously trash but there are plenty of good reasons not to turn the clocks back - safety, green energy saving, sports, etc.
ReplyDeleteBut...the rest of Europe put their clocks back too? We may be an hour ahead of the rest of the continent, but come the 31st they'll all go back an hour too!
ReplyDeleteMake a leak that the EU are going to enforce C.E.T. on the UK and the Express will drop this campaign quicker than “shit of a shovel.”
ReplyDelete"Britain faces a day of chaos tomorrow, as clocks turn back by an hour, plunging the country into evening darkness."
ReplyDelete"Chaos"? Really?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't EVERY evening "plunged into darkness", both in the summer and winter months?
Or is the Express writing for their readers, assuming they are so retarded that they might have difficulty changing the time on their clocks?!?
Pathetic, even by their standards. The contempt in which they hold every sentient being is quite astonishingly sickening.
Hope you bring some reports on the chaos - people truning up an HOUR early for work, shops closing, trains running late (oe does that never happen) You have got to admire their chuzpe with stats though.
ReplyDeleteNot sure why the Express is so keen on this seeing as how it screams for tradition and "the good old days" to come back all the time. This seems like a change too far for it's anti-European agenda. Can't imagine why, of all the things this country should be copying from other European nations, the Express go for Time Zones!
ReplyDeleteIt must be something to do with any such switch having drawbacks in the North of Scotland. We all know the folks up there are "loony lefties" who "ban" the Tories from winning elections outright by voting Lib Dem or SNP. The Express probably doesn't sell very well up there, although if it does then the people wouldn't think twice about time zone changes as the Scottish version of the Express is dead against switching to CET...or at least it was when we put our clocks forward in March.
Anonymous 5: i did turn up to the bus stop an hour early for work once when the clocks went back! man, am i the kind of idiot this campaign is supposed to attract?
ReplyDeletewhat would the express do if something truly chaotic happened? i would love to see what words they would have to use!
ReplyDeleteand yes, we are always plunged in to darkness at night time. it's why it's the night time!
man, they crack me up. if it wasn't so endlessly stupid and depressing!
sianandcrooedrib
ReplyDeleteYou're not the kind of person they are targeting, it's the ones who some how turn up *late* for work, yet wake up *before* thier central heating, while at the same time *oversleep* when the clocks *go back* that they are trying to brainwash.
Strange of the Express to "crusade" for such a big change to pander to a minority!
Judging by thier usage of words like "Crusade", "Fury", and "Outrage", the Express writers have no idea how to report thier own delirious stories let alone something of any significance!