The series of four articles on the outcome of the EU referendum continues with a look at how the current measurement muddle came about.
Category: Consumer affairs
Why can’t weights and measures be left to the free market?
There have been recent reports in the press a butcher in Devon has started to sell meat in pounds and ounces after the UK had voted to leave the EU in a national referendum on 23 June 2016. This butcher is now giving customers the choice to buy meat in pounds and ounces or in grams and kilograms.
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British drivers face a continuing sign muddle
With the end in prospect for road traffic signs showing imperial-only vehicle dimensions, Ronnie Cohen takes a look at the current muddle.
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The curse of conversion factors
In this article, Ronnie Cohen looks at lists of plausible conversions in both directions between imperial units still in use in the UK and metric units.
The battle for measurement supremacy
In December 2015, television weather forecasters expressed our record rainfall in millimetres while the national newspapers stubbornly stuck to inches. Apparently, the use two different measurement systems for the same phenomenon is alive and well in the UK. Ronnie Cohen looks at other aspects of British national life where two competing systems are used for measuring the same thing.
Pocket World in Figures: A common booklet for a global readership
In this article, Ronnie Cohen writes about a UK publication involving measurement that is aimed at a global readership.
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Modular metric magic
OR A Tale of Over Forty Years of Dimensional Co-ordination in UK Kitchens
An article in the recent UKMA newsletter by the Editor on renovating his kitchen has prompted one of our regular contributors, John Frewen-Lord, to relate his own recent experiences doing the same thing, and how the use of metric units has saved enormous amounts of time and money in the process.
Parallels between metrication and airport expansion policy
Ronnie Cohen has observed several similarities between successive governments’ policies on airport expansion and metrication. Although they are completely unrelated issues and there is no link between the two, it speaks volumes about the inability of the British government to act in the national interest and to face down opposition where necessary.
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An anniversary for the US Metric Conversion Act
The 1975 Metric Conversion Act (MCA) was signed into law by President Gerald Ford on December 23, 1975. To mark the 40th anniversary of this event, Ronnie Cohen looks at the introduction of the Act and its effect on metrication in the USA.
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Our awkward, dual measuring instruments
As a consequence of the “very British mess” with measurement policy, the public has to put up with awkward, cluttered, hard-to-read dual measuring instruments. Various types are used every day. In this article, Ronnie Cohen describes several examples and comments on their impact on our daily lives.
Metric Views 