30 October 2011

At the third stroke it will be 07.35, precisely. Traditionally we all looked forward 1 hour to summer, and back with gloom to the winter.  Ever since 1847 (and no, I'm not that old) when GMT was first adopted by the GB Railway Clearing House, we all fell into line. But in this digital and techno world, is it still the best way? GMT could be a thing of the past in more ways than one hour if new plans for coordinated universal time (UTC) by a Paris body are enforced. Proposals by the Int. Bureau of Weights and Measures in Paris could see GMT sidelined. Something to do with an apparent 'leap second' that is needed every 18 months.
Of course, Britain objected - as they do with all things EU! British Science Minister David Willetts grumbled about 'undercurrents of nationalism'. Only last week Cameron annoyed Sarko by having the chutzpah to tell him what to do with the euro, even though Britain isn't even in it. Hanging on for grim death to its isolated island status will, I fear, mean that Britain is nanoseconds away from its own Waterloo.
In the (not Greenwich) digital meantime, there's a generation of children who no longer understand the term 'clockwise'. But what's more important: history, national pride or technological progress? Only time will tell.