This article looks at the first report of the Commissioners appointed early in the nineteenth century to consider weights and measures. It gives examples of the reasons why the Commission was appointed, comments on some of its recommendations, and then speculates on an alternative outcome had the Commission taken a different view.
Continue reading “1819 – a massacre and a missed opportunity”
UKMA has received a message from a viewer of BBC’s ‘Autumn Watch’. This article includes the message and the response.
John Frewen-Lord, a frequent contributor to Metric Views, has just returned from one of his regular trips to Canada. He gives us his thoughts.
Continue reading “The American Influence on Canada’s Metrication”
We ask if it is time for supporters of so-called British weights and measures to come to terms with the fact that only two systems of weights and measures are recognised world wide, and British aka Imperial is not one of them.
Supplementary indications received a reprieve in 2007, and will now, subject to the Brexit deal negotiated with the EU, need to serve only the needs of the UK economy. Ronnie Cohen wonders where US influence is likely to lead us.
UKMA did not takes sides in the EU referendum campaign – the UK would have to do business with a world that is predominantly metric whatever the outcome. However, one of our regular contributors, Ronnie Cohen, detects a theme of isolationism in pronouncements by both Trump and Vote Leave. Here is his personal viewpoint.
Continue reading “Isolationist thinking behind Trump and Vote Leave”
UKMA is nothing if not internationalist in its outlook. So today, 28 July 2016, we celebrate a significant anniversary for the use of the metric system in the USA. It marks 150 years of legal metric usage in the USA.
Continue reading “150 Years of Legal Metric Usage in the USA”
Following earlier discussion on Metric Views, we take a look at the current position on the metric changeover in Canada.
Continue reading “Perspectives on Canada’s metric transition”
Metric Views 