Vindicated: The 'Metric Martyr' Steve Thoburn, who died in 2004, insisted on using imperial measures
Posted on 09/11/2007 12:44:53 AM PDT by Stoat
Brussels will today give up the fight to make Britain drop pints, pounds and miles.
The right of Britons to use imperial weights and measures will be enshrined in EU law under plans being announced by the European Commission.
Traditional measures will remain legal "until Kingdom come", the Commissioner responsible for the move told the Daily Mail last night.
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Vindicated: The 'Metric Martyr' Steve Thoburn, who died in 2004, insisted on using imperial measures
The decision was hailed as a victory for the "metric martyrs" and campaigners who have refused to accept successive governments' attempts to abolish measurements dating back to the Middle Ages.
But the European Commission said it had acted merely to "get the Government out of a hole" and claimed it never targeted Britain's well-loved imperial system.
A directive published today will be put to the Council of Ministers to be approved by EU member states within the next few months.
It will confirm the UK's right to carry on using non-metric measures such as the pint, the mile, and pounds and ounces.
But shops and traders will have to stick to current rules which require those using Imperial weights and measures to show their equivalents in metric as well.
British governments have repeatedly asked for delays in implementing the switch to metric agreed by the EU nearly 30 years ago.
The current delay - or derogation - expires in 2009 and it would have become illegal for UK shops to display the imperial measurements after January 1, 2010.
But a consultation by the Commission found that the UK could carry on using imperial measures without harming the single market, which governs trade across the 27-member bloc.
Gunther Verheugen, the Commissioner for the Single Market, told the Mail he was acting to end "myths" that "the EU was banning the pint and that this was part of a wider plot against Britishness".
Mr Verheugen said: "Let's get one thing straight from the off.
"Neither the European Commission nor any faceless 'Eurocrat' has or will ever be responsible for banning the great British pint, the mile, and weight measures in pounds and the ounces.
"These imperial measures form part of the traditions that are the very essence of the Britishness that all Europeans know and love."
He added: "We at the Commission have decided the time has come to nail these myths once and for all by setting out in black and white what has always been our view: that Britain should continue to use imperial measures for as long as it likes.
"Much as it may dismay those who have peddled the metric myth for far too long, we have now proposed legislation enshrining Britain's right to retain pints of milk and beer, miles on road signs and dual indications of weights and measures from now until Kingdom come."
The agreement to switch to metric was signed by the British government in 1980 as part of the preparation for the introduction of the Single Market.
But its implementation came up against determined opposition from campaigners and the public, who showed repeatedly they were unwilling to give up traditional measurements.
At least 15 consumer surveys between 1995 and 2000 found the British people overwhelmingly rejecting metrification.
Brussels granted a series of derogations, and last night claimed that the decision to go metric had actually been taken by a Tory government and supported by its Labour successor.
A Commission spokesman said: "We have thought long and hard about this and rather than getting periodically slagged off we have decided to solve the problem once and for all.
"We are effectively getting the British government out of a hole. And we are happy to do that."
Last night, the widow of Steve Thoburn - nicknamed the Metric Martyr after he was convicted for selling bananas by the pound - demanded he now be pardoned.
The greengrocer, who worked a local market in Sunderland, became a national hero in 2001 when he refused to abandon his old imperial weights in favour of metric measures.
Until his death three years ago from a heart attack ,the 39-year-old father of two fought against the bureaucracy of the European Commission and inspired the Metric Martyrs Movement.
Led by his friend and fellow market trader, Neil Herron, it continued its work in his name and refused to back down despite the threat of legal action. But his criminal conviction remained.
Now, his widow, Leigh, 33, is calling for his name to be cleared.
Mr Thoburn was prosecuted by Sunderland City Council in 2001 for breaching the Weights and Measures Act after selling bananas by the pound. His imperial scales were confiscated and he was given a sixmonth conditional discharge.
Mr Thoburn was one of only four shopkeepers ever prosecuted for using pounds and ounces - an offence which carried fines of up to £5,000.
b.brogan@dailymail.co.uk
Translation: "We Socialist pantywaists aren't honorable enough to gracefully admit when we're beaten, so we'll just try the 'we were just kidding all along' ploy and hope that the people who weren't paying attention will buy it."
Why is it that whenever a news article about something the EU is going comes out, it makes the EU look sillier than it already is? I mean—CONSISTENTLY, these decisions make the EU look like a joke.
LMAO!
I'm guessing that when you take a mammoth Marxist / Socialist bureaucracy and distill sections of it down into bite-sized, coherent chunks, the ludicrous, illogical nature of the totality of it all becomes more apparent.
Sound good? :-)
I keep waiting for someone to tell me, "You actually thought they were serious? Oh, no, poor boy, you misunderstand--this is just a little play we let the socialists put on so they think they won."
I think that vision still holds true in many ways. Our British Friends still have to contend with many insane laws forced down their throats by the EU. Did you know that the EU forced a law into being that requires the curvature of a banana to be regulated? Yes, they have to conform to a specific, legally specified degree of curvature. The pic of the banana seller in the Daily Mail article was no accident, I'll reckon, but was chosen as a reminder.
I keep waiting for someone to tell me, "You actually thought they were serious? Oh, no, poor boy, you misunderstand--this is just a little play we let the socialists put on so they think they won."
hehe! They're trying to tell you that right now, as well as blaming it all on the Tories:
From the article:
"Brussels granted a series of derogations, and last night claimed that the decision to go metric had actually been taken by a Tory government and supported by its Labour successor."
Known as The Bubba Rule? ;)
Back In The EUSSR...
Known as The Bubba Rule? ;)
Would this be the Bubba Rule that you're talking about?:
"Bill Clinton demonstrating banana curvature requirements in his Bubba Rule legislation"
((((snicker)))))
I loathe the metric system. At work, I am forced to use it. I constantly remind my associates that:
When we Americans walked on the moon nearly 40 years ago, we didn’t get there through use of the metric system...
Don’t get me started.
When we Americans walked on the moon nearly 40 years ago, we didn’t get there through use of the metric system...
Don’t get me started.
Agreed on all counts. Although the metric system has advantages in some areas, those who try to force it down the throats of vast numbers of people who have been accustomed to the Imperial system (or others) for generations or more overlook numerous advantages of leaving well enough alone....among them being that it's really no big deal to mathematically convert from one system to another, and to force such a change and all associated retooling on a multi-trillion-dollar economy would tend to wreck things, but hey, Good Socialists don't need to care about such mundane things as destroying an entire nation's economy.......
Yeah, right. Obviously, that's why they've been granting all those delays over the years that held off forcing metric on Britain against its wishes. Lyin' POS.
Yeah, right. Obviously, that's why they've been granting all those delays over the years that held off forcing metric on Britain against its wishes. Lyin' POS.
Indeed, and it's also why people have actually been PROSECUTED for daring to stand tall against the Socialist leviathan. From the article:
"Mr Thoburn was prosecuted by Sunderland City Council in 2001 for breaching the Weights and Measures Act after selling bananas by the pound. His imperial scales were confiscated and he was given a sixmonth conditional discharge.
Mr Thoburn was one of only four shopkeepers ever prosecuted for using pounds and ounces - an offence which carried fines of up to £5,000. "
Notice also that even in the Daily Mail article, they say "Mr Thoburn was one of only four shopkeepers ever prosecuted......"
Four people prosecuted under an utterly insane law is four people too many, and their suffering and harassment shouldn't be minimized by saying that "it was only four".. It would still be wrong to have such prosecutions possible, even if the laws were never invoked for a single prosecution.
"an offence which carried fines of up to £5,000"
That's an awful lot of money for someone who sells apples and bananas for a living. Here is the current conversion rate to provide a little perspective:
Live rates at 2007.09.11 08:59:16 UTC
5,000.00 GBP
=
10,146.86 USD
United Kingdom Pounds
United States Dollars
1 GBP = 2.02937 USD
1 USD = 0.492763 GBP
My car gets 40 rods to the hogshead, and that’s how I like it.
Sheesh, are you driving something like this?
The English system based on 12 and fractions is divisible in more ways, more quickly, and can be calculated in your head. Once you get to decimals in the metric system, you are lost.
That's driving at how many furlongs per fortnight?
I don’t know what it is, but I want one!
LOL!!!
What is that?
A pint of Guiness, please.
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