Metric Views has received news on the progress of metrication in the Caribbean.
Tag: metrication
“Can the economy survive without a national measurement system?”
This was the question posed at a recent seminar organised by the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee in Portcullis House, opposite the Palace of Westminster. Typically, however, the keynote speeches skirted around the central problem.
Continue reading ““Can the economy survive without a national measurement system?””
ASDA downsizes strawberries – brilliant publicity stunt
Reports in the tabloid media suggest that Asda has reverted to selling strawberries in “pounds”. So what has really happened? Continue reading “ASDA downsizes strawberries – brilliant publicity stunt”
Will the Americans get there first? A challenge to Obama
Everyone knows the fable of the tortoise and the hare. Does this story have a predictive message for metrication in the UK and the US? A recent letter from the US Metric Association to President Obama invites the question: Could the Americans get there first?
Continue reading “Will the Americans get there first? A challenge to Obama”
How decimalisation succeeded while metrication stalled
The media like nothing better than an anniversary, so it was predictable that the 40th anniversary of “decimal day” – 15 February 1971, when the UK finally gave up its archaic and inconvenient coinage and currency – would get a good airing. Some commentators have even recalled that decimalisation was originally supposed to be complementary to metrication, with both operating to roughly the same timetable. So, it is interesting to compare the slick and successful operation to decimalise our currency with the incompetent bungling of metrication.
Continue reading “How decimalisation succeeded while metrication stalled”
Did “Victorian values” block metrication?
What is it about the British that makes it so difficult to implement a simple, obvious and necessary reform – the adoption of a single, rational system of measurement, used by everybody for all purposes? A newly published dissertation attempts some answers to this question.
Continue reading “Did “Victorian values” block metrication?”
Ministers refuse to update obsolete HGV speed limits
Metric Views can reveal that Government ministers have quietly wound up all efforts to align motorway speed limits for buses, coaches and HGVs with the settings of their respective vehicle speed limiters.
Continue reading “Ministers refuse to update obsolete HGV speed limits”
“Half of that mince, please”
Two brief anecdotes illustrate the difficulties still being experienced by customers because neither the Government nor “consumer advocates” will try to help them adapt to metric units in the supermarket.
Parts of the knowledge economy hit the buffers in South America
It has been said that Britain is becoming a knowledge economy, and also that metal bashing can now be safely left to the low-wage economies of the Far East. If only it were that simple. Consider the railway industry …
Continue reading “Parts of the knowledge economy hit the buffers in South America”
Labour leadership hopefuls quizzed on metrication
It is at least possible that one of the five candidates for the Labour leadership will be our next Prime Minister – so it would be helpful to know where each stands on the question of completing metrication. Here is the result (so far) of a small survey carried out by an individual Party member.
Continue reading “Labour leadership hopefuls quizzed on metrication”
Metric Views 