Category Archives: Education

End Britain’s Great Imperial Rip-Off

In these uncertain times, the spending power of the pound in our pockets seems to be decreasing by the day, making it high time, in my view, to end the Great Imperial Rip-Off, and save British consumers from the cost … Continue reading

Posted in Consumer affairs, Education, Health, Transport | 16 Comments

Are our schools entrenching the very British mess?

A recent incident caused me to wonder whether our schools, far from helping to resolve the UK’s two systems muddle, are actually consolidating and perpetuating it.

Posted in Education, General | 28 Comments

Britain from Above

A fascinating new series from the BBC comes up to expectations. (Article contributed by Derek Pollard).

Posted in Education, General, Media | 5 Comments

Metric, a truly natural system

At the time of writing NASA scientists are eagerly awaiting the results of soil sampling from their latest Martian probe Phoenix. Crucial to that experiment is confirmation of the presence of water. That precious substance essential to all life both … Continue reading

Posted in Education, General, History | 3 Comments

No Olympic games without measurement

Accurate and consistent measurement is fundamental to modern life, and in few branches of human activity is it more important than in sport – including, of course, the Olympic Games. This is the message given by Andrew Wallard, the President … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Health, Media, Sport, Technical | 2 Comments

Language and measurement – an enduring relationship

One objection to metrication that I often hear is that the imperial system is embedded in the English language. If we were to lose the old measurement system, we would lose a lot of our language with it, they say. … Continue reading

Posted in Education, General, Myths | 9 Comments

Guyana shows the way

MetricViews has come across an interesting letter in a newspaper published in Georgetown, Guyana. Extracts are reprinted below (acknowledgements to Stabroek News http://www.stabroeknews.com/index.pl/article_letters?id=56535420). The UK authorities could learn from the determined approach to metric conversion adopted by this former British … Continue reading

Posted in Consumer affairs, Education, General, Media | 8 Comments

Which Council in the UK is most metric?

Philip Bladon of Redditch puts this question. He also asks which local authority is most supportive of metrication. The editors of Metric Views, however, have doubts about whether this would be a useful line of enquiry, and invite comment from … Continue reading

Posted in Consumer affairs, Education, General, Road signs | 4 Comments

A critic writes – and a response

UKMA’s Chairman received the following critical letter from a thoughtful correspondent (a student or teacher of physics). As it is better argued than most efforts from defenders of imperial measures, it was thought that it was worth publishing (slightly edited … Continue reading

Posted in Education, General, Technical | 11 Comments

Are imperial units natural? (and some useful rules of thumb)

One of the claims sometimes made by defenders of imperial weights and measures is that they are “natural”. The metric system (they may say) is all very well for science and technical matters, but for everyday life imperial units like … Continue reading

Posted in Consumer affairs, Education, General, Health, Myths, Technical | 4 Comments