Reports in the tabloid media suggest that Asda has reverted to selling strawberries in “pounds”. So what has really happened? Continue reading “ASDA downsizes strawberries – brilliant publicity stunt”
Category: General
Surprisingly balanced article in the Daily Mail
An interesting article about metrication appeared in the Daily Mail Online recently, describing the current situation reasonably well – but arguing that the current British mixture of metric and imperial measurements is actually a good thing since it enables people to use the units “most apposite for the job in hand”. As this argument is seductive but utterly misconceived, it deserves to be taken seriously and rebutted.
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The metric changeover – a continuum or a barrier to surmount?
Readers may have seen versions of world maps showing ‘non-metric’ countries, usually Liberia, Myanmar and the US. The previous article on Metric Views generated comments about the qualifications for membership of this select band, and we now consider this further.
Continue reading “The metric changeover – a continuum or a barrier to surmount?”
Will the Americans get there first? A challenge to Obama
Everyone knows the fable of the tortoise and the hare. Does this story have a predictive message for metrication in the UK and the US? A recent letter from the US Metric Association to President Obama invites the question: Could the Americans get there first?
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Spain discredits DfT’s case against metric signs
The Spanish government this week exposed the Department for Transport’s case against adopting metric road signs in the UK as flawed. While the DfT maintains that it must allow an average of around £1400 to change our road signs, Spain this week changed all its motorway speed limit signs for an average cost of just €41, or £35.
The Spanish government this week exposed the Department for Transport’s case against adopting metric road signs in the UK as flawed. While the DfT maintains that it must allow an average of around £1400 per sign to change our road signs, Spain this week changed all its motorway speed limit signs for an average cost of just €41, or £35.
Continue reading “Spain discredits DfT’s case against metric signs”
Numeracy Counts
A recent report has stressed the importance of numeracy – and of raising the level of numeracy – both for people with learning difficulties and for people who are otherwise well qualified. In this article Martin Vlietstra suggests that fully adopting the metric system would help to raise standards – and blames the Europhobic media for obstructing progress.
Daylight saving, opting out, and a nudge from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Looking for a lead out of the UK’s measurement muddle? The last government showed no desire to become involved, and now the present government appears to be following in its footsteps. Metric Views recently came across a comment elsewhere which prompted speculation on a way forward.
Continue reading “Daylight saving, opting out, and a nudge from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”
How decimalisation succeeded while metrication stalled
The media like nothing better than an anniversary, so it was predictable that the 40th anniversary of “decimal day” – 15 February 1971, when the UK finally gave up its archaic and inconvenient coinage and currency – would get a good airing. Some commentators have even recalled that decimalisation was originally supposed to be complementary to metrication, with both operating to roughly the same timetable. So, it is interesting to compare the slick and successful operation to decimalise our currency with the incompetent bungling of metrication.
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An ‘el’ of a standard
The powers that be of the metric system are wrestling with the problem of defining the kilogram independently of an actual physical object (i.e. the very slowly degrading cylinder of platinum-iridium alloy kept at Sèvres, near Paris, known as “the international prototype of the kilogram”). Meanwhile, they are neglecting a longstanding question that urgently cries out for a solution. [Article contributed by Martin Clutterbuck].
Did “Victorian values” block metrication?
What is it about the British that makes it so difficult to implement a simple, obvious and necessary reform – the adoption of a single, rational system of measurement, used by everybody for all purposes? A newly published dissertation attempts some answers to this question.
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