The question of adopting metric measures in the UK is not a new proposition; in 1862 Parliament’s Select Committee on Weights and Measures considered the matter and came down firmly in favour of metrication. A century and a half later, we are still waiting for the government to finally complete the job. The full report can be read here. A summary follows:
Continue reading “1862 report from the Select Committee on weights and measures”
The claim is often made by last-ditch defenders of miles, feet, pints and acres that “Imperial units are natural whereas metric units are artificial”. In the first of an occasional series of articles on “myths, misinformation and fallacies” used by opponents of completing metrication, we examine this claim.
A list of such myths is summarised in a webpage on UKMA’s main website at this link entitled “Briefing note for UKMA representatives”. This note arose from a discussion at UKMA’s 2012 annual conference about the abysmal standard of debate heard on local radio phone-in programmes. The original intention was (and remains) to help UKMA members and supporters to make the case in radio and television interviews, in newspaper correspondence and online.
In the coming months we shall be discussing particular arguments from this list and opening them up to readers of MetricViews. This week we look at the claim that:
“Imperial units are natural whereas metric units are artificial”
Continue reading “Myths, misinformation and fallacies (1) – Are imperial units “natural”?”
On 11 February, Bloomberg reported that China had overtaken the US in global trade. One of our readers has now drawn our attention to additional information on this subject.
In June last year, we published a time line up to 1980 showing progress towards the adoption of a single, simple, logical and coherent measurement system in the British Isles. We now bring this story up to date.
The reply to a recent parliamentary question prompts thoughts about joined-up government in relation to measurement units.
Continue reading “Metric traffic signs – an issue that goes round in circles but will not go away”
This was the headline in a back number of a trade magazine that recently came to our attention. So who was this choice, why the surprise, and when was he or she chosen for transport?
It was not possible to provide illustrations for the article on metric progress in Malaysia that was published on MV in January 2010. We can now remedy this deficiency.
Thursday 26 July, the eve of the opening of the Games, was a busy day for the Prime Minister as he focused on the benefits the Olympics will bring to the UK.
Continue reading “The Olympics – a showcase, but not just for the UK”
Metric Views has attempted to produce a timeline showing progress in the British Isles towards the adoption of a single, simple, rational and coherent measurement system. This article takes the story up to 1980 – the events of the past thirty years will be the subject of a further post later. Readers’ suggestions for additions and amendments are welcome.
The UK Department for Transport (DfT) now puts forward cost as the principal reason for the failure to convert road traffic signs to metric. Ronnie Cohen reports on a major study he has recently carried out, using the Freedom of Information Act, to find out the actual costs of replacing and installing traffic signs. He finds that the DfT estimate of cost, published in 2006, bears little relation to reality.
Metric Views 