Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Campaign for Real Time?

In a nutshell, the Campaign for Real Time – CamTim for short ^[1] Apologies to Douglas Adams for appropriating the name, and the abbreviation. – is an attempt to make people think about whether the twice-yearly rigmarole of changing all the clocks is actually necessary, or whether our 21st century societies are ready for something a bit more honest than this sleight of hand.

Do you deny the benefits of Summer Time / DST?

No, I believe the benefits are there. But I don’t believe they are directly caused by changing the clocks. Changing the clocks is simply a trick to make us all get up slightly earlier in the summer than in the winter – the benefits all come from us getting up at a different time, travelling at a different time, or working different hours. So why bother changing the clocks?

What’s SDST?

SDST, which stands for the rather awkward “Single/Double Summer Time”, is a proposal to move the UK’s clocks permanently one hour ahead, so that in the winter we would be 1 hour ahead of GMT/UTC, and in summer 2 hours ahead. Its proponents basically argue that if moving the clocks ahead in summer is good, moving them ahead all year round must be even better. CamTim argues that if they want us to get up earlier in the morning, they should just go ahead and say that, rather than ordering us to change all our clocks so we think we’re getting up later than we actually are! Read more about this on the SDST page.

Is this a joke?

No, governments all around the world really do make all their citizens change their clocks to trick them into getting up earlier in the summer than the winter, and the British government really is considering making everyone get up earlier under the codename “SDST”. Oh, you mean, is this campaign a joke? No, I really do think there is a better way of going about this than changing all the clocks twice a year, and at the very least it’s worth discussing the options.

The name’s a bit of a joke, but it’s not as bad as “SDST”. 😉

Is this just a UK thing?

Well, the exact issues around Summertime / DST vary from country to country, and I’m bound to concentrate on what I know: the UK. But many of the points made here apply wherever in the world you live – whether you’re already living with the hassle of changing the clocks, or are being threatened with it by do-gooders.

Aren’t there more important things to worry about, like poverty, world peace, saving the environment, and so on?

Yes.