Christmas approaches so reach for a mail order catalogue

One of our regular contributors has submitted a comment about mail order catalogues, even though he admits there is no Metric Views article to which it relates. We are happy to respond by reproducing part of one of several articles on this subject that have appeared over the years in UKMA News, the newsletter of the UK Metric Association.

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Minister agrees it is time to clear up “very British mess”

In response to UKMA’s patron, Lord Howe, the junior Health Minister, Baroness Thornton said she “absolutely agreed” that it is “time for all of us, in all parties,…. to work together to clear up this long-standing and very British mess.”  She added “This is a matter that will solve itself over time but it is our job in government to move as fast as we can towards people recognising and feeling comfortable using metric calculations.”

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Tory spokesman supports centilitres of alcohol

In a commendable outbreak of common sense, Conservative health spokesman, Andrew Lansley, has proposed that, in order to clarify the amount of alcohol being consumed, bottles and cans should be labelled with the quantity of pure alcohol in centilitres rather than in so called “units”.  But will this lead to a wider realisation that draught beer should also be measured in litres?

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NHS risking patients’ lives with imperial scales

Six months after an official report warned of systemic negligence in medical weighing practice within the NHS, the Department of Health has failed to issue the necessary safety alert to hospital trusts to ensure that the report’s recommendations are implemented.

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