The clocks go forward this Sunday, marking the beginning of the daylight saving period.
It will mean the time jumps to 2am as the clocks turn to 1am on 30 March – and yes, bad news, you will lose an hour of sleep.
But the extra hour of daylight will mean longer, lighter evenings from next week.
“Spring forward, fall back” has been part of our calendar for more than 100 years – but whether we should continue the practice is hotly debated.
But why do some people get so up in arms about the clocks changing – and why do we do it in the first place?
Here is what you need to know – including how to prepare ahead of this weekend’s clock change.
Why do we have daylight saving time?
The change to British Summer Time (BST) – also known as daylight saving time (DST) signifies the end of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) in the UK.
It lasts from the last Sunday in March until the last Sunday in October, when the clocks go back an hour.
It is common belief that DST was introduced to help give farmers more daylight hours to work in the fields. But this is not exactly true.
George Hudson, a New Zealand entomologist – someone who studies insects – first campaigned for more evening sunlight back in the 1890s, so he could study his beloved bugs. It was the first time changing the clocks around the seasons had been suggested seriously.
Jump to 1907 and British inventor William Willett – the man credited with bringing daylight saving to the UK – self-published a pamphlet called The Waste Of Daylight, in which he outlined his frustration with not getting the most out of summer days.
He initially proposed that clocks jump forward by 80 minutes in four incremental steps in April and reversed the same way in September – but he died before any law was implemented in the UK.
The first country to adopt DST was Germany in 1916, during the First World War. The UK followed suit a few weeks later.
Image: The clocks going forward means lighter evenings in the UK. Pic: iStock
How does daylight savings affect your health?
Since the implementation of DST, and particularly the clocks going forward in spring, various studies have found that darker mornings and lighter evenings can cause havoc with some people’s bodies.
In fact, sleep and dream researcher Charlie Morley said there is “overwhelming” evidence of the health issues the switch can cause.
“What research shows is what a massive effect on the body and mind, just one extra hour [of sleep] can have,” Mr Morely told Sky News.
One study cited by the American Heart Foundation found there was a 24% increase in heart attacks on the day following the switch to daylight saving time – however the opposite effect has been identified in autumn, when the clocks go back.
Another from 2016 in Finland found there were 8% more hospital admissions for the most common type of stroke in the two days after the shift to daylight savings.
Researchers also note those suffering strokes and heart attacks were likely to already be at higher risk.
When asked what symptoms losing an hour of sleep can lead to, Mr Morely said: “The interesting thing is when you get a really short amount of sleep, like four hours or less, the fear centre of the brain, known as the amygdala, becomes 60% more active.
“This can make it seem like everything is annoying, threatening or in conflict. So if you lose an hour of sleep, you might see an increase in the amygdala response, making you more grumpy and tetchy.”
Whether to keep daylight saving or not has been a hotly debated question for many years, but was reignited in October last year, when the British Sleep Society called on the UK government to abolish the twice-yearly clock changes.
In an article at the time, researchers said due to the negative effect DST has on circadian and sleep health, the UK should abolish the change altogether, and reinstate standard time throughout the year.
In reality, only about a third of the world’s countries practice daylight saving time, according to the Pew Research Center.
US President Donald Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social last December that he wanted to scrap DST. His secretary of state Marco Rubio has also called the ritual of changing time twice a year “stupid”.
Image: The Greenwich meridian clock at the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London. Pic: iStock
The European Parliament has also previously voted for all EU member countries to scrap DST, but after the Parliament and EU Council couldn’t reach an agreement on the legislation, it never became law.
One of the few places that doesn’t follow DST in Europe is Iceland, due to its location and extreme variations in daylight throughout the year.
How to prepare for clock changes and the ‘golden rule’ of napping
Mr Morley says it is impossible to make up for lost sleep, but those worried ahead of daylight saving time can “front load sleep”.
This involves someone getting “really good, quality sleep before entering a period of bad sleep”.
Exposing yourself to natural sunlight first thing in the morning, eating meals based on the time of day it is where you are, minimise the use of caffeine and exercising can also all help treat negative effects of losing an hour of sleep.
Mr Morely added that napping can also be an effective way of dealing with sleep deprivation – but there are some hard and fast rules.
“The two golden rules of napping are it needs to be under an hour, so between 20 minutes and 60 minutes, and the nap needs to end six hours before you intend to go to bed again,” he explained.
“There is a chemical called adenosine, which is known as the tiredness chemical, and it takes around five to six hours to build up. So if you want to go to bed at midnight, as long as your nap ends up 5pm you have got enough time for adenosine to build up, and you will be tired enough to go to bed.”
The last blast furnaces left operating in Britain could see their fate sealed within days, after their Chinese owners took the decision to cut off the crucial supply of ingredients keeping them running.
Jingye, the owner of British Steel in Scunthorpe, has, according to union representatives, cancelled future orders for the iron ore, coal and other raw materials needed to keep the furnaces running.
The upshot is that they may have to close next month – even sooner than the earliest date suggested for its closure.
The fate of the blast furnaces – the last two domestic sources of virgin steel, made from iron ore rather than recycled – is likely to be determined in a matter of days, with the Department for Business and Trade now actively pondering nationalisation.
The upshot is that even as Britain contends with a trade war across the Atlantic, it is now working against the clock to secure the future of steelmaking at Scunthorpe.
The talks between the government and Jingye broke down last week after the Chinese company, which bought British Steel out of receivership in 2020, rejected a £500m offer of public money to replace the existing furnaces with electric arc furnaces.
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The sum is the same one it offered to Tata Steel, which has shut down the other remaining UK blast furnaces in Port Talbot and is planning to build electric furnaces – which have far lower carbon emissions.
Image: These steel workers could soon be out of work
However, the owners argue that the amount is too little to justify extra investment at Scunthorpe, and said last week they were now consulting on the date of shutting both the blast furnaces and the attached steelworks.
Since British Steel is the main provider of steel rails to Network Rail – as well as other construction steels available from only a few sites in the world – the closure would leave the UK more reliant on imports for critical infrastructure sites.
However, since the site belongs to its Chinese owners, a decision to nationalise the site would involve radical steps government officials are wary of taking.
They also fear leaving taxpayers exposed to a potentially loss-making business for the long run.
The dilemma has been heightened by the sharp turn in geopolitical sentiment following Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
The incipient trade war and threatened cut in American support to Europe have sparked fresh calls for countries to act urgently to secure their own supplies of critical materials, especially those used for defence and infrastructure.
Gareth Stace, head of UK Steel, the industry lobby group, said: “Talks seem to have broken down between government and British Steel.
“My advice to government is: please, Jonathan Reynolds, Business Secretary, get back round that negotiating table, thrash out a deal, and if a deal can’t be found in the next few days, then I fear for the very future of the sector, but also here for Scunthorpe steelworks.”
Prince Andrew’s efforts to make money from his Pitch@Palace project have been branded as a “crude attempt to enrich himself” at the expense of “unsuspecting tech founders”, as new documents may shed more light on what he and his team have been attempting to sell.
Today is the deadline for documents to be released relating to Prince Andrew‘s former senior adviser Dominic Hampshire and his interactions with the alleged Chinese spy Yang Tengbo.
In February, an immigration tribunal heard how the intelligence services had contacted Mr Hampshire about Mr Yang back in 2022. Mr Yang helped set up Pitch@Palace China, a branch of the duke’s scheme to help young entrepreneurs.
Image: The alleged Chinese spy, Yang Tengbo, has links with Prince Andrew
Image: Yang Tengbo. Pic: Pitch@Palace
Judges banned Mr Yang from the UK, saying his association with a senior royal had made Prince Andrew “vulnerable” and posed a threat to national security. Mr Yang challenged that decision at the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC).
Since that hearing, media organisations have applied for certain documents relating to the case and Mr Hampshire’s support for Mr Yang to be made public. SIAC agreed to release some information of public interest. It is hoped they may include more details on deals that he was trying to do on behalf of Prince Andrew.
So what do we know about potential deals for Pitch@Palace so far?
In February, Sky News confirmed that palace officials had a meeting last summer with tech funding company StartupBootcamp to discuss a potential tie-up between them and Prince Andrew relating to his Pitch@Palace project.
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The palace wasn’t involved in the fine details of a deal but wanted guarantees to make sure it wouldn’t impact the Royal Family in the future. Sky News understands from one source that the price being discussed for Pitch was around £750,000 – there are, however, reports that a deal may have stalled.
Photos we found on the Chinese Chamber of Commerce website show an event held in Asia between StartupBootcamp and Innovate Global, believed to be an offshoot of Pitch.
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Who is alleged Chinese spy, Yang Tengbo?
Documents, released in relation to the investigations into Mr Tengbo, have also shown how much the duke has always seen Pitch as a way of potentially making money. One document from 21 August 2021 clearly states “the duke needed money at the time, and saw the relationships with China through Pitch as one possible source of funding”.
But Prince Andrew’s apparent intention to use Pitch to make money has led to concerns about whether he is unfairly using the contacts and information he gained when he was a working royal.
Norman Baker, former MP and author of books on royal finances, believes it is “a crude attempt to enrich himself” and goes against what the tech entrepreneurs thought they were signing up for.
He told Sky News: “The data given by these business people was given on the basis it was an official operation and not something for Prince Andrew, and so in my view, Prince Andrew had no right legally or morally to take the data which has been collected, a huge amount of data, and sell it…
“And quite clearly if you’re going to sell it off to StartupBootcamp, that is not what people had in mind. The entrepreneurs who joined Pitch@Palace did not do so to enrich Prince Andrew,” he said.
Rich Wilson was one tech entrepreneur who was approached at the start of Pitch@Palace to sign up, but he stepped away when he spotted a clause in the contract saying they’d be entitled to 2% equity in any funding he secured.
He feels Prince Andrew is continuing to use those he made a show of supporting.
He said: “It makes me feel sick. I think it’s terrible – that he is continuing to exploit unsuspecting tech founders in this way. A lot of them, I’m quite grey and old in the tooth now, I saw it coming, but clearly most didn’t. And a lot of them were quite young.
“It’ll be their first venture and you’re learning on the trot, so to speak. So to take advantage of people in such a major way – that’s an awful, sickening thing to do.”
We approached StartupBootcamp who said they had no comment to make, and the Duke of York’s office did not respond.
With reports that a deal may have stalled, it could be a big setback for the duke – especially with questions still about how he’ll continue to pay for his home on the Windsor estate now that the King no longer gives him financial support.
The UK is in talks with Brazil over the “potential sale” of the Royal Navy’s two amphibious assault ships that are being ditched to cut costs, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed.
Defence experts said the fact HMS Bulwark – which has only just received an expensive refit – and HMS Albion are being flogged off underlines the pressure on the defence budget even though Sir Keir Starmer keeps talking up his promises to boost expenditure.
The two warships can be used to deploy Royal Marines to shore – a vital capability at a time of growing global threats.
News of the possible sale was first revealed in Latin American media.
One report said the Royal Navy and Brazilian Navy had signed an agreement that would see the UK giving information to the Brazilians on the state of the two ships prior to any purchase.
Asked about the claim that the UK would sell the assault ships to Brazil, a Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “We can confirm we have entered discussions with the Brazilian Navy over the potential sale of HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion.
“As announced in November, both ships are being decommissioned from the Royal Navy. Neither were planned to go back to sea before their out of service dates in the 2030s.”
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James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, appeared to question the wisdom of the move.
“At Defence orals [House of Commons questions] on January 6th Defence Secretary John Healey said: ‘HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion were not genuine capabilities’,” Mr Cartlidge wrote in a post on social media.
“They’ve just been sold to Brazil.”
Matthew Savill, the director of military science at the Royal United Services Institute, said the plan to sell the vessels demonstrates there “is still life in both these ships”.
He said: “The fact that the UK is prepared to sell off useful amphibious capability – which could be used in evacuation operations or other cases where air transport is difficult – shows just how tight finances are even with the promised budget increase.
“The replacements for these ships are still several years away and won’t be available until the 2030s.”
Mr Savill added: “As an aside, Brazil will probably have greater amphibious capacity than the UK, having previously bought HMS Ocean, the UK’s helicopter assault ship.”
HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark entered service two decades ago.
Both are currently held at lower readiness having not been to sea since 2023 and 2017 respectively.
HMS Ocean, a helicopter-landing vessel and once the largest warship in the Royal Navy, was sold to the Brazilian Navy in 2018 after 20 years in service.