“Oh my goodness!” exclaimed Mrs Claus, as midnight approached on Christmas Eve. “I swear you put on more weight each year! You do give those reindeer a really hard time, you know.”
BBC told to stop undermining the National Measurement System
In its response to a recent BBC consultation the UK Metric Association (UKMA) has called on the BBC to live up to its declared mission and hence to support – and not to undermine – the exclusively metric National Measurement System.
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Which? and Government claim credit for UKMA campaign
Both the Consumers’ Association (aka Which?) and the Government’s Business Department have claimed the credit for the success of their campaign to persuade supermarkets to price goods transparently. But who actually started the campaign? and is it enough?
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Salisbury points to a solution (and to a problem)
Metric Views’ attention has been drawn to a Victorian piece of legislation under which signs may be authorised.
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Independent Scotland would keep …
In its White Paper today (26 November 2013) the Scottish Government has tried to reassure nervous sceptics with a list of things that they hope a future independent Scotland would keep. Widely reported have been the Queen, the pound sterling , membership of the EU, membership of NATO (all these subject to negotiation), free travel to the rest of the British Isles, the BBC, Royal Mail (albeit renationalised). But there is one item in the list that has not attracted much attention …
Scrap optimism bias say public sector clients
This was the heading of an article in the magazine “New Civil Engineer”, published on 14 November. Metric Views looks at the effect of removing optimism bias on the estimate of the cost of road traffic sign conversion prepared by the UK Department for Transport in 2005.
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The Long Goodbye after High Noon
MV looks at the global decline of “Anglo-Saxon measures”, from dominance in 1945 to insignificance today, and draws some conclusions.
And the winner is …
This week, Metric Views takes a look at a recent awards ceremony in the construction industry.
Boost for science and engineering undermined?
A recent report published in the US suggests that the UK Government’s plans to boost science and engineering may be undermined by its muddled policies on measurement units.
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The reports of the death of the micron are greatly exaggerated
After a two month break, Metric Views returns with an article by UKMA’s new Chairman, John Frewen-Lord, about an aspect current metric usage. (With apologies to Mark Twain for the headline). Continue reading “The reports of the death of the micron are greatly exaggerated”
