EU gives up on 'metric Britain'

BBC ^ | 11 sep 2007 | BBC

[oblomov]

The European Union is set to confirm it has abandoned what became one of its most unpopular policies among many people in Britain. It is proposing to allow the UK to continue using pounds, miles and pints as units of measurement indefinitely.

The European Commission will announce later it is leaving all future decisions to the British government.

The decision is being seen as a victory for supporters of the ancient imperial system, the so-called "metric martyrs".

Pint saved

The UK had been due to set a date for phasing out all its imperial measurements within three years.

This would have meant setting a deadline for ending the traditional delivery of pints of milk - and the sale of pints of beer in Britain's pubs.

Every one of Britain's road signs would have had to be changed from miles to kilometres - a move which opponents warned would be both expensive and confusing.

Steve Thoburn made headlines around the world over his campaign

But it was the move, begun in 2000, to make Britain's market traders sell their produce in kilograms rather than pounds and ounces which caused outrage among traditionalists.

Sunderland grocer Steve Thoburn inspired the "metric martyr" movement with his defiance of the order to abandon the imperial measurements.

[LeGrande]

I suppose that depends on who is doing the cooking. Someone who is used to the metric system would undoubtedly find the Imperial or U. S. customary systems to be inefficient.

Actually what you will find, is that in cooking, the metric equivalents of the cup and the teaspoon etc. have just been converted over, because those quantities are naturally occurring. There is no advantage with the metric system for cooking and there are some disadvantages.

The same argument occurs with measurements. A nautical mile is much better than a kilometer for navigation purposes.

The only place where the metric system is superior is in scientific and engineering calculations. Just shifting the decimal is clearly better than imprecise conversions.

[Tanniker Smith]

I guess that that wasn't immutable enough. Maybe because the water has to be at precisely 4 degrees Celsius besides (which is whatever Kelvin).

A precise amount of a pure substance at a particular temp is a little more complicated then the time light travels a certain distance (a sec) or the length of several billion cycles of some isotope.

Me? I'll stick with miles per hour.
TS
Yo! Where's my metric hour? Why am I still using the stuff from Ancient Babylonia???

[myknowledge]

I don't mind it at all. What if a foreign tourist from a country that uses metric drives on an American road unfamiliar with U.S. imperial speed limits (mph)?

A bit of hospitality would help? Anyone?

[myknowledge]

Who was the 19th Century's greatest dictator?

Napoleon Bonaparte?

[myknowledge]

Stuart Highway, Northern Territory.

Westlink motorway network, New South Wales.