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.
Continue reading “Parallels between metrication and airport expansion policy”
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.
Continue reading “An anniversary for the US Metric Conversion Act”
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.
The onset of foggy mornings and dark evenings reminds us that winter is on its way. Ronnie Cohen has written an article that may just get us thinking of those lazy, hazy days of summer spent on a continental beach (metric measures taken for granted) or perhaps even on an urban beach alongside the North Circular Road in North London.
This week, Ronnie Cohen takes a look at the long-forgotten 1972 White Paper on Metrication.
Recent reports of the difficulties facing Britain’s milk producers have prompted Ronnie Cohen to look into the muddle sorrounding retail packaging and pricing of all types of milk.
For the last twelve years of his life Geoffrey Howe was patron of the UK Metric Association. Robin Paice, who was Chair of the Association for most of this time, remembers him.
The editors of Metric Views note with great regret the death yesterday of Lord Howe.
Lord Howe was a Patron of the UK Metric Association from its foundation, and campaigned in Parliament for over a decade for the completion of the UK’s metric transition. An outline of his work to bring to an end the mixture of, as he said, “two confused, competing systems” of measurement will be the subject of a future Metric Views article.
Charlie P, a regular if occasionally critical contributor to MV, promised he would on his return from holiday give his thoughts on “the flip side of the SI as far as the average man in the street is concerned”. These now appear below. They are of course not endorsed by the Editors of MV, but may provide food for thought.
In this article about new scientific developments to redefine the kilogram and remove its link to a physical object, Ronnie Cohen writes about recent reports about a new scientific breakthrough in getting the most accurate estimate of Avogadro’s constant to date, which can help to redefine the kilogram. These reports have been published in the last few weeks and you can find a list of sources at the bottom of this article.
Metric Views 