A slogan appearing on the label of a bottle of apple juice leaves some of us guessing about its intended message. (more…)
Archive for the ‘Law’ Category
A juicy story
Saturday, July 24th, 2010Glaring omission from Queen’s Speech
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010The new coalition Government claims to be determined to clear up the “mess” left behind by the previous Government. So it is notable that Her Majesty’s gracious speech included no proposals to tackle one of the biggest “messes” of all – the intractable muddle of incompatible measurement units with which her UK (but not other Commonwealth) subjects have to struggle.
Could a future Government reverse metrication?
Friday, April 16th, 2010A recent correspondent expressed the wish “Let’s hope the new (Conservative) government puts a stop to metrication as far as is practically possible.” Naturally, we disagree with this sentiment – but, whoever wins the election, what could they actually do to turn the clock back? and, realistically, what would they do?
Crazy proposal to raise speed limits above speed limiter settings
Friday, April 2nd, 2010As a bizarre consequence of the failure to switch to metric speed limits, the Department for Transport (DfT) is proposing to raise the motorway speed limit of coaches and buses from 60 mph (96.6 km/h) to 65 mph (104.6 km/h). That’s 4.6 % faster than the 100 km/h maximum speed that their speed limiters allow.
Will the European Commission challenge US labelling rules?
Saturday, January 16th, 2010A recent posting by NIST (the National Institute of Standards and Technology) has prompted this question: Are American labelling requirements now illegal under WTO rules?
NHS risking patients’ lives with imperial scales
Thursday, December 17th, 2009Six months after an official report warned of systemic negligence in medical weighing practice within the NHS, the Department of Health has failed to issue the necessary safety alert to hospital trusts to ensure that the report’s recommendations are implemented.
BIS sticks with pints of beer (but only on draught)
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009As expected the Business Department has refused to permit sales of draught beer and cider in convenient metric measures – but its reasoning is bizarre.
Signs review disregards Welsh road users
Sunday, November 1st, 2009The Department for Transport (DfT) is failing to address the needs of Welsh road users, and international traffic, when considering road sign designs in its Traffic Signs Policy Review.
End of imperial-only restriction signs
Saturday, October 10th, 2009The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced its intention to finally end the use of imperial-only width and height restriction signs on Britain’s roads.
Chaos comes to National Cycle Network signs
Friday, October 9th, 2009In an apparent admission that cycle route signs showing distances in miles are not meaningful to cyclists, the Department for Transport is proposing to allow authorities the option of using signs that show journey times in hrs and mins instead of distances in miles and fractions of miles.