CHANGING the clocks is a topic that seems to come up every year at some point (Letters, January 2, 4 & 5). I would like to extend sympathy to all who suffer from seasonal affective disorder (Sad), especially at this, the darkest time of the year.

It is a distressing condition, though there can be some amelioration from ensuring brightly lit environments in frequented buildings. I agree about the further disruption caused by the change from British Standard Time (BST) to Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) as nature’s more gradual approach would be more tolerable for Sad sufferers. The time change is also disruptive for shift work, transport timetables and animal husbandry (to mention just three examples) and is unnecessary. However, all-year BST does not work well for Scotland and we would be better to stick with GMT; we would still have long summer days.

We need to consider not only our latitudinal position but also longitude. These factors determine how much daylight is received, exacerbated in winter at times by heavily overcast skies. Mankind’s puny efforts to change things by altering our clocks never work, except by shifting peak darkness from one end of the day to the other.

There are compensations for many of us; there is nothing so comfortable as snuggling up with a good book (am I giving away my age?) or listening to music, with curtains drawn and a howling gale outside.

On dark mornings there may be a chance to see the wonder of nocturnal creatures, finishing their night’s work; only recently I came across a pair of adolescent roe deer and also a large dog fox, walking casually up our road. Leave our clocks on GMT.

Andrew McCrae,

35 St. Andrews Drive, Gourock.