During the last decade of the nineteenth century, events in Southern Africa were dominated by the gold rush as adventurers scrambled to exploit the newly discovered in the Johannesburg area. This and the egos of and animosity between the financier and Cape Colony prime minister Cecil John Rhodes and the aging and dour president of the Transvaal Republic Paul Kruger resulted in the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902.
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Elizabeth Line in figures
Metric Views marks the opening to the general public of London’s Elizabeth line, formerly known as Crossrail, with a few statistics.
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We note the latest contract for the renewal of London Transport’s Underground fleet.
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The battle for measurement supremacy
In December 2015, television weather forecasters expressed our record rainfall in millimetres while the national newspapers stubbornly stuck to inches. Apparently, the use two different measurement systems for the same phenomenon is alive and well in the UK. Ronnie Cohen looks at other aspects of British national life where two competing systems are used for measuring the same thing.
Inconsistent and confusing distances on public signs
Ronnie Cohen writes about the muddle of measurement units he has found on public signs in London, particularly those related to public transport and cycling. If two measurement systems were not bad enough, he has found there are now three.
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Metric Views 