Minutes, TfL and ‘Legible London’

Visitors to the capital may have been surprised by the use of “minutes” to measure distance on many pedestrian signs. Metric Views has now come across correspondence between Ronnie Cohen and Transport for London (TfL) that provides the explanation.

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Deficits, the global measurement system and global trade

In this article, Ronnie Cohen looks at the deficits of some major economies and asks if  apparent reluctance to use the global measurement system is a symptom of a wider problem – adapting to a changed world.

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Alpine DIY and the generation gap

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.

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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.

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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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Global Britain or Imperial isolation?

On 29 March, Sir Tim Barrow, Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the European Union, handed a signed six-page letter from the British Prime Minister to the President of the European Council, invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and confirming the UK’s intention to leave the EU. So where do we go from here?

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Smart meters, or not?

Readers may have seen a recent TV programme that was highly critical of the energy smart meter “roll out”. Some of you may now be wondering why a nation that made a mess of the simple task of adopting a modern measurement system is now embarking on a complex and expensive technology project of questionable value.

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