Will the new Parliament be more pro-metric?

Although it is widely assumed that the next Parliament (to be elected no later than June 2010) will contain more Conservative and fewer Labour MPs, is it possible that they may be more sympathetic to completing the metric changeover?  (Article based on a draft by Martin Vlietstra.)

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Why scientists should join the metrication campaign

Scientists often complain that they are much misunderstood and they worry that they are failing to get their message across to the general public.  At the same time, most scientists refuse to get involved in the campaign to persuade the Government and the general public to complete the metric changeover.  Could there be a connection?

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Will the European Commission challenge US labelling rules?

A recent posting by NIST (the National Institute of Standards and Technology) has prompted this question: Are American labelling requirements now illegal under WTO rules?

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Tory spokesman supports centilitres of alcohol

In a commendable outbreak of common sense, Conservative health spokesman, Andrew Lansley, has proposed that, in order to clarify the amount of alcohol being consumed, bottles and cans should be labelled with the quantity of pure alcohol in centilitres rather than in so called “units”.  But will this lead to a wider realisation that draught beer should also be measured in litres?

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Why do nautical miles linger on?

I recently had an exchange of correspondence with an acquaintance (a former RAF pilot) who tried to explain to me why most of the world of aviation still uses nautical miles and knots rather than kilometres and km/h.  The explanation went like this.

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