As we once again enter the Celsiheit season, that uniquely British time of year, where temperatures become so warm that some assume that a switch to the larger numbers of the old Fahrenheit scale is required, the BBC has dashed any hope that 2025 might be the year when Fahrenheit is finally consigned to the history books of UK weather forecasting.
Continue reading “Are UK weather forecasts a form of gaslighting?”
The BBC responded to UKMA Chair Peter Burke’s complaint about their cover-up of the outcome to the Government’s imperial units consultation. The response to the Government’s survey was almost unanimously pro-metric. Almost 99% expressed either support for the status quo (mandatory metric with an optional imperial supplementary indication) or to use fully metric pricing (with no imperial) despite the fact that respondents who wanted to express these options were forced to use the free text boxes or reply by email. The BBC reply failed to address the key issues in the UKMA Chair’s complaint.
Continue reading “BBC response to UKMA Chair’s complaint about cover-up of outcome to Government’s imperial units consultation”Just after midnight on 27 December 2023, the government published the response to its imperial units consultation. On the same day, the BBC initially reported it under the headline “Metric measurement rules to stay after Brexit review”. Later that day, the BBC changed its headline to “Pint-sized bottles of wine to be sold after Brexit review” and buried the main story at the bottom of the rewritten article. The new pint size for wine bottles was not the main news item but a side issue. The BBC news report was changed to cover up the overwhelming public rejection of government plans to revive imperial units. Did the BBC bow to political pressure to cover up bad news for the government?
Continue reading “BBC covers up overwhelming public rejection of government plans to revive imperial units”Despite the best efforts of UKMA to promote correct usage, the writing of metric symbols leaves much to be desired. Former UKMA Chair Robin Paice reflects on the impact of the UKMA’s Metric Style Guide since its publication, evaluates other style guides, comments on the teaching of measurement units in schools and makes suggestions for UKMA’s committee to improve the situation.
Continue reading “Metric Style Guide – has it had any effect?”A few days ago, weather forecasters were warning the public about a period of freezing weather and snow. Major British commercial broadcasters’ websites have expressed the levels of snowfall exclusively in centimetres. There has been no use of inches for snowfall in their online weather reports.
Continue reading “Major commercial broadcasters use cm only for snowfall”As we become used to metric measures for social distancing, Ronnie Cohen, one our frequent contributors, looks at the measurement policy of our national broadcaster. Apparently, it is the over 50’s who are responsible for the muddle.
Continue reading “Official BBC Measurement Policy”The Irish Border has appeared frequently in the news as a major obstacle to a withdrawal agreement between the UK and the remaining 27 EU member states. In this article, Ronnie Cohen looks at a ‘soft’ characteristic of the current border – the change of measurement units on road traffic signs.
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.
UKMA has received a message from a viewer of BBC’s ‘Autumn Watch’. This article includes the message and the response.
At last, the General Election campaign is over. And now, as we wait for the results, Ronnie Cohen looks at something completely different: Match of the Day. Or is it?
Metric Views 