Supporters of completing metrication will be saddened to learn of the death of Australian consultant and campaigner, Pat Naughtin.
This was the question posed at a recent seminar organised by the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee in Portcullis House, opposite the Palace of Westminster. Typically, however, the keynote speeches skirted around the central problem.
Reports in the tabloid media suggest that Asda has reverted to selling strawberries in “pounds”. So what has really happened? Continue reading
An interesting article about metrication appeared in the Daily Mail Online recently, describing the current situation reasonably well – but arguing that the current British mixture of metric and imperial measurements is actually a good thing since it enables people to use the units “most apposite for the job in hand”. As this argument is seductive but utterly misconceived, it deserves to be taken seriously and rebutted.
Recent comments on the value, or otherwise, of retaining historic or traditional measurements in daily use have prompted thoughts on the swift rise of the imperial system of measures in the nineteenth century and on the muddle that has resulted from its inevitable decline in the twentieth.
In response to letter from the British Weights and Measures Association (BWMA), the Minister of State for Universities and Science, David Willetts MP, has confirmed that there is no change in Government policy on the units of measurement in use for trade.
Readers may have seen versions of world maps showing ‘non-metric’ countries, usually Liberia, Myanmar and the US. The previous article on Metric Views generated comments about the qualifications for membership of this select band, and we now consider this further.
Everyone knows the fable of the tortoise and the hare. Does this story have a predictive message for metrication in the UK and the US? A recent letter from the US Metric Association to President Obama invites the question: Could the Americans get there first?
The Spanish government this week exposed the Department for Transport’s case against adopting metric road signs in the UK as flawed. While the DfT maintains that it must allow an average of around £1400 per sign to change our road signs, Spain this week changed all its motorway speed limit signs for an average cost of just €41, or £35.
A recent report has stressed the importance of numeracy – and of raising the level of numeracy – both for people with learning difficulties and for people who are otherwise well qualified. In this article Martin Vlietstra suggests that fully adopting the metric system would help to raise standards – and blames the Europhobic media for obstructing progress.
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