Over twenty years ago, a group of market traders were prosecuted for using imperial measures (without showing the equivalent in metric units) and using unauthorised scales that could only measure in imperial units. Newspapers called this group the Metric Martyrs after Chris Howell, then weights and measures spokesman for the Institute of Trading Standards Administration (today the Trading Standards Institute), said that they could martyr themselves if they wanted to. As Ministers are thinking about allowing traders to choose imperial or metric units, we look at what is wrong with the Metric Martyrs’ arguments for freedom of choice in measurement usage.
Continue reading “Why the Metric Martyrs were wrong”Tag: ounces
Imperial return is part of Brexit symbolism
The return of imperial units is part of a wider range of symbolic changes that are coming as a result of Brexit.
Continue reading “Imperial return is part of Brexit symbolism”Why can’t weights and measures be left to the free market?
There have been recent reports in the press a butcher in Devon has started to sell meat in pounds and ounces after the UK had voted to leave the EU in a national referendum on 23 June 2016. This butcher is now giving customers the choice to buy meat in pounds and ounces or in grams and kilograms.
Continue reading “Why can’t weights and measures be left to the free market?”
Metric Views 