In the UK today – Sunday 29 October – we’ve now finished with daylight saving time, so the clocks have gone back an hour. One pretty much universally appreciated effect of this is that, should we wish to, we can take an extra hour in bed. The same is true of most of Europe, who have also now gone back an hour.

Interestingly, the United States doesn’t put its clocks back until next weekend, meaning the usual 5 hour time difference between UK time and Eastern time is reduced to 4 hours for a week – with the inevitable scheduling mishaps that occur every year as a result. (Though it seems Hawaii and Arizona don’t recognize daylight saving so don’t officially alter their clocks).

I’m never quite sure whether it’s a good idea to continue this annual forwards and backwards of timezones, so I wonder if – in the spirit of research – it’s time for a trial of a different system?