Problems of sovereign debt in the eurozone have seen the UK side-tracked in EU decision making, and, say some commentators, headed for the exit. Is this situation likely to impact on the UK’s stalled metric changeover?
Category: General
Outlines of Pacific trade deal announced
On 12 November, Voice of America reported as follows:
“President Barack Obama has announced that the United States and eight other Pacific nations have reached the broad outlines of an agreement to create a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to liberalize trade.
Christmas approaches so reach for a mail order catalogue
One of our regular contributors has submitted a comment about mail order catalogues, even though he admits there is no Metric Views article to which it relates. We are happy to respond by reproducing part of one of several articles on this subject that have appeared over the years in UKMA News, the newsletter of the UK Metric Association.
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Spotlight falls (again) on the high cost of construction in the UK
The magazine New Civil Engineer (NCE) reports this week on a recent conference in Barcelona which highlighted the wide difference between the cost of infrastructure in the UK and on the continent. So it seems that the inflated 2006 estimate for the metric conversion of the UK’s road traffic signs may be part of a deeper problem.
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A very Caribbean muddle
Metric Views has received news on the progress of metrication in the Caribbean.
The BBC explains its position on measurement units
A reader of Metric Views has received an unusually comprehensive reply to a complaint about the units used in the the programme ‘Bang goes the theory’. We are posting the letter in full as we feel it may be of interest to our readers. Continue reading “The BBC explains its position on measurement units”
Remarks by Eric Schmidt throw up a paradox
The executive chairman of Google remarked recently that Britain needs to “bring arts and science back together”. But the USA, where he is based, is the most backward country in the world for sharing of measurement units between scientists and others. So what does this say about the measurement muddle in both countries?
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Eurocodes for structural design, and that decimal marker
Britain is currently adopting European codes for structural design and allowing British Standard codes to lapse. This raises the issue of the preferred decimal marker – should imperial or continental practice be followed?
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Metric campaigner dies
Supporters of completing metrication will be saddened to learn of the death of Australian consultant and campaigner, Pat Naughtin.
“Can the economy survive without a national measurement system?”
This was the question posed at a recent seminar organised by the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee in Portcullis House, opposite the Palace of Westminster. Typically, however, the keynote speeches skirted around the central problem.
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