Life used to be simple – we got up when it was light and went to bed when it was dark. But during the First World War, the decision was made to change from Greenwich Mean Time, based on noon being when the sun was highest in the sky, to British Summer Time when the clocks were put forward an hour.

BST was sometimes called Daylight Saving Time because we had darker mornings, when we were asleep, and were able to have lighter evenings when we were awake. This was only really effective in the summer months, so for half the year the clocks were put back to GMT when it was dark anyway in winter.

It was argued that by having an hour extra daylight in summer we had more time to work outside and there would be a saving on lighting. This was considered so important during the war years of 1940 to 1945 that they made it double summer time, that is two hours ahead, and kept it there all year round before returning to normal BST in peace time.

There was another attempt to find the right balance of time and daylight between 1968 and 1971. It was GMT plus one hour all the year round, like our present summer, but without the clocks being put back in October.

It was noticed that this reduced the number of road accidents, but there was opposition from northern and Scottish farmers who found that it didn’t start getting light until mid-morning, so since then we have been on the normal one hour forward and then one hour back system.

But now there is a strong campaign, called ‘Lighter Later‘, that suggests the country would benefit from shifting our clocks another hour forward, all the year round, so we would have GMT plus one in winter and GMT plus two in summer.

It would be the current system but with another hour added on. This would make us the same as most countries in western Europe with their Central European time in winter, that is GMT plus one, and GMT plus two in summer. We would indeed be European.

The argument is that electricity bills, and so CO2 output, would be reduced, and it would make us healthier as there would be more time for exercise in the evening, more jobs in tourism, fewer road accidents so reduced treatment costs, less crime and the elderly could get out more.

We would need to balance these marginal improvements with going to work or school in the dark and some very annoyed folk in Scotland and Shetland, though Norway seems to cope and benefit from the longer, lighter evenings.