A new industrial strategy for Britain?

The Government revealed its new industrial strategy in a White Paper published earlier this week, generally receiving a positive response. But are there still elephants in the room?

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Imperial on the surface, metric beneath

Following on from his article about the far-reaching influence of the measurement units used on road traffic signs, Ronnie Cohen now takes a look at the signs themselves and the roads they complement.

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The influence of traffic signs goes way beyond transport

During the past few weeks, there have been many news stories about the removal or modification of certain metric traffic signs by an elderly gent from Huntingdon and his friends. Their inability to see beyond the narrow remit they have set themselves has become very clear. In this article, Ronnie Cohen puts forward a contrary view.

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Could London bus accident have been prevented?

This weekend we heard the sad news that 26 people were injured when a double-deck bus hit a low bridge in Tottenham, north London. But could this accident have been prevented?

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Continued use of medieval units damages UK’s image abroad

Following the Brexit vote, leading ministers have used a number of buzzwords and phrases to try to promote the UK in a positive light as they talk about new trade deals, free trade, investment, lower taxes and lighter regulation. Can they be serious?

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How the UK created a measurement muddle

The series of four articles on the outcome of the EU referendum continues with a look at how the current measurement muddle came about.

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The link between muddled units and verbose traffic signs

Successive UK governments have retained imperial units exclusively for distance and speed on road traffic signs. Ronnie Cohen argues that, as a result, we have been unable to take advantage of universal unit symbols, a feature of the metric system but not of imperial.
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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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Progress at last on vehicle dimension signs

The 2016 traffic sign regulations banning new imperial-only vehicle dimension signs were laid before Parliament on 23 March 2016 and came into force on 22 April. Ronnie Cohen looks at the chequered history of this commonsense reform.

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