Category Archives: Media

Joules on the menu, please

The very worthy proposal of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) that menus should state energy values is undermined by its failure to use proper measurement units.  UKMA has responded by advocating joules rather than so-called “calories” (whatever they may be).

Posted in Consumer affairs, General, Health, Media, Technical | Tagged , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Spare a thought for any would-be Brysons out there

What units do you choose when you are writing travel books and other popular non-fiction for English speakers, wherever they might be found? (Article written by a reader of Bill Bryson’s books)

Posted in Education, General, Media, Technical | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Who said that?

The standards for writing SI are very clear, those for speaking perhaps not. So this contribution to the topic from the BBC may be of interest to our readers.

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Our Christmas Cracker

The traditional Christmas cracker usually contains a joke, a paper hat and a toy, and goes off with a bang. Metric Views, in its cracker, has an anecdote about a Christmas Fair, links to two radio programmes, and a video with … Continue reading

Posted in Consumer affairs, Education, General, History, Media | 20 Comments

Mystery shopper exposes imperial media stunt

UKMA has received evidence that the recent media hullabaloo about the prosecution of a market trader in Hackney was a deliberate setup, designed to reawaken interest in the flagging campaign to preserve obsolete imperial measures.

Posted in Consumer affairs, General, Media | 11 Comments

Imaginative media spin on a non-event?

Supporters of consumer protection have been alarmed at reports suggesting that the Government is to tell local councils not to enforce aspects of weights and measures law.  Can this really be true?

Posted in Consumer affairs, General, Law, Media | 9 Comments

What is a “Mountain”? Mynydd Graig Goch and all that…

Today’s news media gave a lot of attention to the resurvey of Mynydd Graig Goch which supposedly reclassified its summit from a “hill” to a “mountain”. Does this really make sense?

Posted in General, Media | 9 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

Acre not to be abolished – unfortunately

The media just can’t get it right. Nor can they miss any opportunity, however unfounded, to knock both the metric system and the European Union. The latest non-story is to be found in the Daily Telegraph and Daily Mail of … Continue reading

Posted in General, Media | 18 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