Today in Parliament, the House of Commons is scheduled to debate a Bill, introduced on 22 September by Jacob Rees-Mogg, entitled, Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill. The innocuous sounding title belies the disruptive, and potentially devastating, effects that it could have on all walks of life in the UK, including metrication.
Category: General
Imperial Red Meat policy won’t save the Conservatives
The Government’s imperial measurement proposals seem to be part of their Operation Red Meat proposals to get Conservative MPs and supporters back on side. They were initially used to try to save former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and then used by the final two candidates in the Conservative leadership contest, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, to gain support from Conservative Party members to win the Conservative leadership contest and become the next Prime Minister.
Continue reading “Imperial Red Meat policy won’t save the Conservatives”Metric popularity rises with youth
On 3-4 February 2022, YouGov did a survey about Britons’ preferences for using imperial and metric units for different purposes. It showed that the younger the age group, the stronger the preference for metric units.
Continue reading “Metric popularity rises with youth”Queen’s Jubilee celebrations to include return of imperial units?
Over the weekend, various news items announced (again) that it was the Government’s intention for us to return to the use of imperial units.
Continue reading “Queen’s Jubilee celebrations to include return of imperial units?”
Decimal measurement of area
Martin Vliestra looks at key steps in the search for a simple system of measuring area.
Continue reading “Decimal measurement of area”A paradox of our measurement muddle
Should the UK have one measurement system or two? We highlight a paradox in UK government policy.
Continue reading “A paradox of our measurement muddle”The 1972 White Paper on Metrication – 50 years on
2022 sees the 50th anniversary of the 1972 White Paper on Metrication – a policy document that set out the Government’s plans for the nation’s metrication programme in the 1970s.
The publication of the White Paper was approved at a Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday 11 January 1972.
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Does the UK’s mixed use of metric and imperial give us a unique ‘superpower’?
When arguing against the completion of metrication, opponents sometimes claim that the UK’s current muddled use of metric units for some things, and imperial for others, gives us an advantage that should be envied when it comes to measurement, in that it somehow makes us ‘bilingual’ in both systems.
Continue reading “Does the UK’s mixed use of metric and imperial give us a unique ‘superpower’?”
Metric Views 