Thierry wrote: >So it's not France who distinguishes from the rest, but ...UK who are the sole > to insist on 'their' GMT time (nowadays called UT). >(I should check for Ireland, but I'm pretty sure they are on WET/WEST too.)
Ireland is on the same timezone at the UK, and so is Portugal. It seems to me that Spain and France should be the same too, but for their close ties with the rest of the European mainland. They are both mostly within 7.5° of the Greenwich meridian. Anyway, timezones don't solve the whole problem. When I lived in England I did a lot of business with Finland (+2 hours), and France and Germany (+1). It was difficult to contact colleagues when we needed to. Yes, this was due to different timezones, but also different office hours. England worked 9-17.30 local with lunch from 12.30 - 13.30, Finland worked 7.30-16.00 local with lunch from 11.30 to 12.30, France and Germany something else again. Germany was extra complicated because the factory staff worked different hours to the operations staff, so there were two sets of times to remember. I would happily put the whole of the EU on a single time zone, but only if there are also common start, finish and break times! ---- Want to know who's going to win in your constituency? Try my UK Tactical Voting Wizard at http://users.eastlink.ca/~srgl/election2001.htm
