Morocco has come under heavy criticism from some quarters today after controversial plans were unveiled to reduce the number of seconds in every minute to a meagre 56 within the next 6 months.
In an unconventional attempt to increase the country's average life expectancy from the currently disappointing 68.7 (for men) closer to the proud 78.5 boasted by the UK, Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi expected his majority government to pass the bill in the next few weeks. "Morocco, as with all African nations has for too long lived in the shadow of the great powers of the west," said Al Fassi on Monday. "Today we make a stand to literally speed up our country's progress towards longer life for all its citizens."
Opposition leader Sheik el Mahmama condemned the proposal, explaining that the estimated 52 minutes lost every day would probably end up in a rival African country run by a tyrant within less 5 years. Previous studies have shown that should a tyrant be given as little as an extra 5 minutes an hour, he will on average commit 60% more atrocities per day than under normal circumstances.
British Foreign Minister Jack Straw refused to be drawn on the issue during a repeat of Murder, She Wrote this afternoon, though rumours persist that if it proves to be a success, Britain may be in line to invoke a similar change by 2014. Sources close to the Prime Minister Gordon Brown, currently visiting another African country claim he is still sceptical about the proposal which could increase the average punter's commute on the London underground by as much as 10 minutes each way.
At a book signing in town this morning, Sir Stephen Hawking argued that the many benefits including reduced NHS waiting lists and lower priced milk caused by higher life expectancy outweigh the small risk of inadvertently handing more time to evil dictatorships. He typed that "Due to the UK's status as an island and therefore lack of physical contact with any country ruled by a tyrannical regime it is far less at risk from handing any of its own time over to a dictator with any potential to exploit it for evil than people once thought."
"People forget that time was originally invented to work out how long it takes to cook certain foods. Expected improvements in technology will mean that ovens no longer have to be pre heated in order to reach the required temperature by the end of next year. With this in mind it seems needless to persist with as many as 60 seconds in a minute."
Would you be prepared to give up 4 seconds a minute to live up to 10 years longer? Or perhaps you think Abbas El Fassi's proposal is just a waste of time?
