Tag Archives: weights and measures

Howe calls for metrication progress

Lord Howe of Aberavon, the former Conservative Chancellor and Deputy Prime Minister, intervened in the Queen’s Speech debate on Tuesday to reiterate his call for the Government to complete the conversion of the UK’s weights and measures to metric units. … Continue reading

Posted in Consumer affairs, General, Road signs | Tagged , , , , | 30 Comments

Which? sees the light – and Panorama joins in

By an odd co-incidence both “Which?” magazine and the BBC’s flagship “Panorama” programme  have recently run stories on the scams employed by the big supermarkets to prevent customers from comparing “value for money” in their weekly shopping. However, despite their … Continue reading

Posted in Consumer affairs, General, Law | Tagged , , , , , | 17 Comments

Who should pay for metrication of road signs?

The Department for Transport have claimed that converting road signs to show metric units would be an unjustifiable diversion of resources from other priority areas.  So is there an argument that the costs should be met from some other budget?  … Continue reading

Posted in General, Road signs, Transport | Tagged , , , , , , , | 22 Comments

ASDA downsizes strawberries – brilliant publicity stunt

Reports in the tabloid media suggest that Asda has reverted to selling strawberries in “pounds”.  So what has really happened?

Posted in Consumer affairs, General, Law, Media | Tagged , | 64 Comments

Surprisingly balanced article in the Daily Mail

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 … Continue reading

Posted in Consumer affairs, Education, General, Media | Tagged , , , , | 25 Comments

Minister confirms business as usual

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 … Continue reading

Posted in Consumer affairs, Law | Tagged , , , | 38 Comments

How decimalisation succeeded while metrication stalled

The media like nothing better than an anniversary, so it was predictable that the 40th anniversary of “decimal day” – 15 February, 1971, when the UK finally gave up its archaic and inconvenient coinage and currency – would get a … Continue reading

Posted in General, History, Media, Road signs | Tagged , , , | 14 Comments

Did “Victorian values” block metrication?

What is it about the British that makes it so difficult to implement a simple, obvious and necessary reform – the adoption of a single, rational system of measurement, used by everybody for all purposes?  A newly published dissertation attempts … Continue reading

Posted in General, History | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

“Half of that mince, please”

Two little anecdotes illustrate the difficulties still being experienced by customers because neither the Government nor “consumer advocates” will try to help them adapt to metric units in the supermarket.

Posted in Consumer affairs, General, Law | Tagged , , , | 23 Comments

Glaring omission from Queen’s Speech

The 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 … Continue reading

Posted in General, Law | Tagged , , | 13 Comments