Category Archives: Law

Familiar with imperial? Do you know that…?

Miles, yards, feet and inches, pints, pounds and stones. Yes, fifty years after the UK embarked on the metric transition, we still need to be familiar with some of those old units.  In this article, Ronnie Cohen looks at some … Continue reading

Posted in Consumer affairs, Education, General, History, Law, Science | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

The 1895 Select Committee on weights and measures

This article looks back to the findings and recommendations of the 1895 Parliamentary Select Committee on weights and measures.

Posted in Education, General, History, Law, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , | 26 Comments

Will EU-US trade agreement bring in metric-only labelling in the US?

A key point of President Obama’s State of the Union address on 13 February was the proposed EU-US trade agreement, which has been under preliminary discussion for the past year. (See http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/13/state-of-the-union-free-trade-europe).  As this agreement is supposed to remove regulatory … Continue reading

Posted in Consumer affairs, General, Law, Views from abroad | Tagged , , , | 22 Comments

1862 report from the Select Committee on weights and measures

The question of adopting metric measures in the UK is not a new proposition; in 1862 Parliament’s Select Committee on Weights and Measures considered the matter and came down firmly in favour of metrication. A century and a half later, … Continue reading

Posted in Law, Science, Technical, Views from abroad | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

A UK metric time line from 1980

In June last year, we published a time line up to 1980 showing progress towards the adoption of a single, simple, logical and coherent measurement system in the British Isles. We now bring this story up to date.

Posted in Consumer affairs, Education, General, Health, History, Law, Road signs, Science, Sport, Technical | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments

The Cardinals Hat calls time

A pub in Worcester, that for ten years served draught beer by the litre, has now closed due to rising costs.

Posted in Consumer affairs, Health, Law | Tagged , , , , , | 11 Comments

The use and abuse of fluid ounces

We look at some of the consequences when there is more than one option for supplementary units on product labels.

Posted in Consumer affairs, Law, Recipes, Views from abroad | Tagged , , , | 19 Comments

A metric time line for the UK

Metric Views has attempted to produce a timeline showing progress in the British Isles towards the adoption of a single, simple, rational and coherent measurement system. This article takes the story up to 1980 – the events of the past thirty … Continue reading

Posted in Consumer affairs, Education, Health, History, Law, Science, Technical | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

Prospects improve for food energy labelling using SI units

One of our readers wrote to Sainsbury’s to ask that guideline daily amounts (GDAs) of energy shown on packaging should be shown in kilojoules, the SI unit, as well as or instead of kilocalories. He has received a reply that … Continue reading

Posted in Consumer affairs, Health, Law, Science | Tagged , , , | 7 Comments

FAQs about the transition to metric signs on UK roads

Readers have commented recently on the obstacles to the transition to metric-only signs on Britain’s roads. This has prompted Metric Views to offer answers to some Frequently Asked Questions on this subject.

Posted in History, Law, Road signs, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , | 28 Comments