Happy New Year to all our readers.
In this article, the Editor explains the reason for the absence of new posts on MV in recent weeks. This leads to a discussion of a issue that few of us, perhaps, have encountered.
Lack of co-ordination between DfT publications
This week, Ronnie Cohen looks at a problem faced by the UK Department of Transport (DfT) resulting from the our two-system measurement muddle. With continuing staffing cuts in Civil Service and the diversion of effort to deal with Brexit, it would appear that such problems are unlikely to be resolved in the foreseeable future.
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Use of the kilometre in the UK
As noted in a comment on our last article, the BBC’s acclaimed new series Blue Planet 2 uses metric measures for smaller distances and depths but miles for greater ones. Ronnie Cohen takes this opportunity to look at instances when kilometres are preferred to miles.
Autumn watched
UKMA has received a message from a viewer of BBC’s ‘Autumn Watch’. This article includes the message and the response.
DfT myths and reality
Over the years, the UK Department for Transport (DfT) has come up with many arguments in support of successive Transport Ministers’ reluctance to convert UK road traffic signs from an outdated and poorly understood system of measurement to one that is simple, logical and almost universal. Ronnie Cohen puts forward counter arguments.
A case of dumbing down on measures for US audience
Amid the reports last year about the failure of consumer tests for the Galaxy S7 Active phone, one notable difference between the official use of the International Protection (a.k.a Ingress Protection) marks and the consumer reviews on an American website is the use of different measurement systems. Ronnie Cohen explains.
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Problems with US spelling variants for writing metric
This week, Ronnie Cohen takes issue with an example of American exceptionalism.
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New Internationalist, a metric role model for the British media
Back after our summer break, Metric Views is happy to publicize a periodical that might have escaped our readers’ attention in recent years. Ronnie Cohen explains.
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DfT has done no cost-benefit analysis on metrication of road signs
Ronnie Cohen draws some conclusions from a recent Freedom of Information (FoI) request that he made to the UK Department for Transport (DfT).
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British drivers’ exposure to metres
Ronnie Cohen takes a look at some of the ways in which British drivers are exposed to metric measures. Metric Views would be interested hear of readers’ experiences, though it is not possible, unfortunately, to post photos with your comments.
