The British Government to return to imperial weights etc

[arista]

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/world/europe/imperial-measurements-pounds-ounces-return.html


Yes Bring it On.

[joeysteele]

Ridiculous.
People in the UK, some are more to metric and others talk in imperial terms.

We went metric I believe in 1971.
So what's the point in really changing back.
Just leave it as it is.
Some as I say still talk in pounds and ounces.
So just let it carry on as it is.

Are they planning to go back to pounds, shillings and pence again too.

ONLY 3 countries use imperial weights.
Liberia and Myanmar.
Oh and the USA, now maybe there's the reason the government are looking at it, more poodle action with the USA.

[arista]

"Are they planning to go back to pounds, shillings and pence again too."


No,
Not at all.

[user104658]

From the tiny part of the article I can see (there’s a paywall) it sounds like they’re planning to ALLOW imperial measurements, which would be at manufacturers/retailers discretion.

There’s no indication that any official units of measurement would be reverting. They obviously will not.

[joeysteele]

From the tiny part of the article I can see (there’s a paywall) it sounds like they’re planning to ALLOW imperial measurements, which would be at manufacturers/retailers discretion.

There’s no indication that any official units of measurement would be reverting. They obviously will not.

Oh thank you TS.
So a sort of another big announcement of more like a non event really from the government.

[James]

I mean there is no reason that shops and traders should be banned by law from using Imperial units.

What I've always thought is Metric is better for converting and scientific purposes, but Imperial is more human-relatable - a foot is a foot, a yard is a pace, an inch is a thumb etc.

There is a reason that people still give their heights in feet and inches, and weight in stones.

Also on road signs, for instance there is no need to convert how many feet is the equivalent of the miles shown, so Imperial is better there.


Here is the article...


Britain Signals Intent to Revert to the Imperial System
The government announced plans to allow shops to sell produce in pounds and ounces, rather than using the metric system, as part of an effort to “capitalize on new Brexit freedoms.”




The British government said it would pursue plans to allow shops and market stalls to sell fruits and vegetables labeled solely in imperial units of measurement.

Large Pic -
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/09/18/multimedia/17xp-imperial-units1-print/merlin_180554499_eb56024a-ec4e-49a6-ab9c-79bd2efab05a-superJumbo.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp
The British government said it would pursue plans to allow shops and market stalls to sell fruits and vegetables labeled solely in imperial units of measurement.Credit...Kevin Coombs/Reuters
Jenny Gross
By Jenny Gross
Sept. 17, 2021

LONDON — The British government said it was taking steps to return to its traditional system of imperial weights and measures, allowing shops and market stalls to sell fruits and vegetables labeled in pounds and ounces alone, rather than in the metric system’s grams and kilograms, a move it hailed as an example of the country’s new post-Brexit freedoms.

The plans, which David Frost, the minister overseeing Brexit, announced on Thursday, were cheered by Brexit supporters, many of whom had argued that the switch to the metric system over the decades was a sign of unwelcome European Union interference in daily life in Britain.

While the European Union currently requires members to use the metric system alone, it had allowed Britain, when it was a member, to label its produce in imperial units alongside metric units. There were also exceptions for traffic signs and beer.

As part of its exit from the European Union, the British government is now reviewing thousands of E.U. rules that it retained and determining whether they best serve the national interest. Those rules include the E.U. ban on sales in imperial units, which the British government said it would legislate changes to “in due course.”


Continue reading the main story

Since Britain formally split from the European Union on Jan. 1, after nearly 50 years of membership, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has touted his vision of a “Global Britain” that would flourish without being shackled by rules imposed by the 27-member bloc.

British officials have pointed to developments, such as changing the color of British passports from the European Union’s burgundy to Britain’s traditional blue, which was dropped in 1988, as bold and triumphant symbols of the country’s new freedom.

But critics, including the 48 percent of voters who did not support Britain’s exit, have said such advances seem small and not very helpful at a time when employers are struggling to fill thousands of jobs, vacant in part because of the exodus of European Union immigrants since the vote to leave the bloc.

Among the concerns about the country’s fragile economic recovery are a variety of new time-consuming and confusing procedures that have made importing and exporting goods to and from the European Union more difficult, shortages at British supermarkets and a rift over unresolved trade rules for Northern Ireland.

Nevertheless, Mr. Frost, the Brexit minister, said on Thursday that the move toward the imperial system would be part of the broader changes Britain was making to “capitalize on new Brexit freedoms.”



“Overbearing regulations were often conceived and agreed in Brussels with little consideration of the U.K. national interest,” he said in announcing the intention to introduce legislation to change the rules. “We now have the opportunity to do things differently and ensure that Brexit freedoms are used to help businesses and citizens get on and succeed.”

Tony Bennett, a member of Active Resistance to Metrication, a small group that has for years been pushing for England to return to its old weights and measurements, said he was celebrating the development.

Mr. Bennett said the campaign to leave the European Union and the campaign to revert to imperial measurements had to do with preserving what he saw as the gradual erosion of British culture and tradition.

“The system of weights and measures is integral to our daily life and also to our written culture, our language,” he said, citing expressions like “an inch is as good as a mile,” and “inching forward.” He estimates that he and his group have placed stickers over thousands of signs in public parks and on roads that use the metric system in England over the last two decades.

Large Pic -
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/09/18/lens/17xp-imperial2-units-print/17xp-imperial-units1-superJumbo.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp
A road sign in South Shropshire that Tony Bennett, 74, changed so that it would display feet and not meters.

Since at least medieval times, the English have used their own set measurements, including inches, feet, stones, miles and acres, many of which are still used in the United States. But for decades, the British government had been pushing people to use the metric system, used in most of the world and developed using decimalized metric standards during the French Revolution.



Supporters of the metric system say its use is necessary for companies to compete globally, since so many countries use it. Those passionate about the metric system also point to the fact that Britain began its switch to the metric system in 1965, eight years before it joined the European Union. Others said there were more pressing issues to focus on, like cuts to public services.


A poll by YouGov - https://yougov.co.uk/topics/lifestyle/articles-reports/2015/06/20/britains-metric-muddle - in 2015 of British adults found that younger people tended to favor the metric system, with more than 60 percent of those ages 18 to 39 saying they would measure short distances in meters, compared with less than 12 percent of those over 60.


https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/17/world/europe/imperial-measurements-pounds-ounces-return.html

[James]

The poll from 2015.


Britain’s metric muddle not changing any time soon

Will Dahlgreen
Society
June 20, 2015, 11:07 AM GMT+1


For some things we use metric measurements and other things we use imperial - and in most areas the younger generations are just as confused

In policy terms metrication (converting to the metric system of measurement) makes perfect sense. The existence of two systems is an unecessary complication, and unhelpful to standardising medicine and technology. In Britain, metrication was formally endorsed by the government in 1965, but the imperial system is still commonly used. The mix confuses shoppers, children and holiday makers.

New YouGov research reveals the continuing extent of Britain’s metric muddle. There are some measurements where metric is beginning to catch on, but there are others with no evidence of change.

By the late 1970s all British examination boards were requiring knowledge of the metric system, but even today most 18-24 year-olds still do not know how much they weigh in kilograms (60%) or how tall they are in metres and centimetres (54%).

https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/inlineimage/12545/metricate1.png

There has been a slightly better uptake of metric in knowing how tall you are – the gap between 18-24s and over-60s is 22%.

Metrication in the kitchen is changing fastest, with 75% of 18-24s using grams, millilitres and litres compared to only 28% of over-60s. The use of metres to estimate short distances has also had success, with 62% of young people doing so compared to 12% of over-60s. Over one in four young people (27%) still use yards however.

https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/inlineimage/12549/yesmetrics.png

In 2012, Lord Howe, who was responsible for metrication as a minister in the 1970s, bemoaned the confusion caused by imperial measurements for visitors to the London Olympics. He added that the country’s ‘dithering’ attitude to metrication had created a “metrically literate elite and a rudderless and bewildered majority”. There is some evidence in our polling of a class divide on measurements, as members of the ABC1 ‘middle class’ social grade are more likely on every occasion than ‘working class’ people to use the metric system, and are even 14 points more likely to use it in cooking and estimating short distances.

See the full poll results - https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/vsi5u7fi74/InternalResults_150609_systems_of_measurement_Webs ite.pdf


https://yougov.co.uk/topics/lifestyle/articles-reports/2015/06/20/britains-metric-muddle

They measured my height and weight one time at the doctors and they did it in centimetres and kilograms, and I'm sure I would have remembered what it was if they had used feet and stones.

[Cherie]

I still like the old fashioned way for weighing myself...and when babies are born 7kg means nada to me

[arista]

From the tiny part of the article I can see (there’s a paywall) it sounds like they’re planning to ALLOW imperial measurements, which would be at manufacturers/retailers discretion.

There’s no indication that any official units of measurement would be reverting. They obviously will not.


UK Link

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/imperial-units-pounds-ounces-brexit-b1921732.html

https://www.indy100.com/news/imperial-measurements-government-reaction-twitter-b1921916

[arista]

TS

Its on the way
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/imperial-measures-uk-return_uk_61439407e4b07ad8c8dd2c6a

[arista]

[I mean there is no reason that shops and traders should be banned by law from using Imperial units.
What I've always thought is Metric is better for converting and scientific purposes, but Imperial is more human-relatable - a foot is a foot, a yard is a pace, an inch is a thumb etc.
There is a reason that people still give their heights in feet and inches, and weight in stones.
Also on road signs, for instance there is no need to convert how many feet is the equivalent of the miles shown, so Imperial is better there.]


Sure James

[James]

Monitors and TVs is another thing people always use inches for.

[arista]

Monitors and TVs is another thing people always use inches for.


Yes 50" LG 4K HDR TV

[bots]

metric units are accurate and conversions between weight and volume become a breeze., but they are emotionless. If you say something is travelling at 10 metres per second ... everyone says so what. If you say something is travelling at 160mph, it conveys maginitude much better. It's similar with centigrade and farenheight I think. It took me 40 years to become comfortable with centigrade :laugh:

I think having a mixed system like we have is the best solution. I mean, a measure of distance being how far a farmer can plough his field in a day is just wonderful i think :laugh:

[Crimson Dynamo]

I still like the old fashioned way for weighing myself...and when babies are born 7kg means nada to me

If a woman had a 15lb baby it would mean a lot to her

:omgno:

[Beso]

Monitors and TVs is another thing people always use inches for.

That's only because saying a 1.28 metre tv, would sound silly.

[Beso]

Police statements are probably done the old way as well.

[user104658]

Monitors and TVs is another thing people always use inches for.


Also penises.

[Zizu]

I’ve never stopped using the old way :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Cherie]

If a woman had a 15lb baby it would mean a lot to her

:omgno:

Omg :laugh: