to think that politicians who are keen for a return to Imperial measurements should be asked to do calculations with them

[cakeorwine]

I know my weight in stones and pounds. And in Kg
My height in feet and inches. And metres / cm

I can visualise a mile - but a 1000 yards - not really.

But when it comes to calculations, I would struggle with Imperial but it's easy with metric

10 stones 5 pound 7 oz divided by 7

or 52 kg divided by 7 - I could estimate that pretty confidently and it wouldn't take too much time to calculate it.

3 lb 5 ounces at £1.23 a pound or 4.2 kg at £1.23 a kg?
And what is less than an ounce - you can easily go more precise with metric but with Imperial?

I know that 'in the old days' people got used to these calculations. But we've moved on.

If you want to display units in price per pounds or per gallon / fluid ounce, go ahead . But keep Metric.

I think politicians who are keen to do Imperial should be asked to do some percentages, division and multiplication with such units. And then they should be asked if it's worth it

I don't suppose anybody does, not really. It's just a pathetic attempt by this wretched government to try to win back some popularity with fuddy-duddy Little Englanders.

I am nearly 60 and all my education was in metric. Sure, I still think of my height first in feet and inches (obv!) and my weight in stones but am perfectly capable of using metres and kilograms instead. In fact, for most things these days - shopping, cooking, buying materials I think in metric first.

I agree OP with your suggestion about making them demonstrate can do the calculations first. If there was a vote then it should be accompanied by a maths test involving measurements.

E.g. Here is a rectangular swimming pool with these dimensions. Calculate its volume and hence how much water is required to fill it. There should be a choice between using the dimensions given in centimetres and then giving the answer in litres OR using dimensions in inches and giving the answer in gallons. As a goodwill gesture the formula for converting volume to capacity could be given in both cases. As a further goodwill gesture they could even be provided with a calculator.

However, they would have to give the correct answer in whichever system of measurement they choose to vote for in order for their vote to be counted.

I've got a better idea.
They should volunteer to be patients in hospitals, in some highly technical area like Intensive Care, whilst the doctors and nurses get used to calculating their drug doses in fractions of a grain.
That should solve a few problems.

I grew up with imperial but still think it's a stupid idea.
But a game show where various politicians have to do calculations correctly in imperial within a time limit, or get an electric shock would make excellent Saturday night entertainment, I think 😁

There was a retired teacher on the radio earlier who was incredulous that this issue hadn't moved on in nearly 50 years!

Back then she was teaching her class both measurements in the expectation that imperial would be phased out as the less logical of the two. 50 years later and this is still hanging over and confusing us.

Bloody fools. Let it go!

I can imagine Tory Ministers are having lessons now on measurements for the next time they get asked.

And the ones the guy got this morning weren't hard ones either

I think it's sweet. A throwback to when we had an Empire and Manufacturing industry to make us feel all warm and fuzzy. Let's go the whole hog and have ration books and the workhouse. Oh wait...

No one, and I include "old farts", are even slightly taken in by this latest attempt by that knucklehead in number 10 to distract from the parlous daily clusterfuck that is this government.

I’m 30 and trained as a tailor under someone who worked only in imperial .
It must be fairly common in all sorts of trades and apprenticeships.

To answer your question, who can afford olive oil in brexit Britain? Have a spoonful of drippings instead

I'm 50 and happy using either - unless I'm baking! Then it's imperial all the way 😆

Including complex calculations, divisions, multiplications....

At least metric is base 10 - and just varies the prefix in front of the measurement..

I don't think anything needs to change. Lots of people, including me, just quietly get on with a mixture of metric and imperial without it being an issue.

I cook and bake in imperial, know my height in feet and inches, know my weight in stones and pounds, and can fairly accurately estimate the size of a field in acres but not in hectares.

However, I am happy to buy fabric in metric although I will then sew in imperial. I think of my knitting needles in imperial sizes but don't get confused if I need to buy new ones in metric.

I walk and cycle in miles but run in kilometres.

I'm too cynical to get distracted by Mr Johnson though, does he think we are idiots?

It's only a dead cat - no need to worry. The whole thing will be quietly forgotten once it's served to distract everyone from the Prime Minister's current problems.

However... just in case anyone's actually serious about this, here's a selection of questions from "Intelligence Arithmetic Tests", Pupils' Book II for Intermediate Classes aged 10 to 12 Years, published by Schofield & Sims some time during the 1950s - because these offer a flavour of what your kids might need to be able to cope with.

I've omitted several questions that would require familiarity with pre-decimal currency (£.s.d.), but left in a few that only need a simple calculation using old pence. The kids would have been expected to answer all twenty questions in a single period of about 50 minutes. Here we go...

A milkman buys his milk at 10d. per gall. and sells it at 4d. per quart. How much does he gain on 5 galls.?

A person sold 2 eggs each day during June. If they were 1½d. each, how much was obtained for them?

If the value of a square chain of land is £5, what should be paid for an acre?

A piece of cloth 3 yds. 2 inches long is cut into 11 equal strips. How long is each strip?

If ¾ cwt. of tea be made up into quarter pound packets, how many would there be?

Find the price of 3 lbs. of tea at 1½d. per oz.

How many inches are left after ¾ of a yard measure has been cut off?

If milk costs 4d. per quart, what will 2½ galls. cost?

What is the difference between 9 doz. and 9 score?

If a milkman leaves ½ pint of milk at each of 24 houses, how many galls. is that?

A piece of string is 1 ft. 3 in. long. How many such pieces would be required to stretch 3 yds. 1 ft.?

If 1½ lbs. of sweets were divided among 4 boys, how much would each receive?

If a gallon of water weighs 10 lbs., what will 1 gall. 3 pts. weigh?

If 7 lbs. of soap be cut into 4 oz. tablets, how many will there be?

What does 1 lb. of wool at 4½d. per oz. cost?

How many lb. packets of tea can be made from 1½ cwts?

A man had ¾ of an acre to plough. He did one eighth of an acre on the first day, and a quarter of an acre on the second day. How much remained to be done?

A rail is 3 ft. 9 in. long, and 26 of them are placed end to end. How far will they stretch? Answer in inches.

A plant has grown from 2 ft. 3 ins. to 5 ft. 2 ins. in one season. What is the increase in height?

What would a gross of matches cost at 10½d. per doz.?

[Sooooo... how did you get on? Nothing to worry about then :) ]

Jesus they wouldn't bring this in to maths classes would they? that's just what our kids need on top of what they've been through these past couple of years

I think that was Lord Parkinson

^Parkinson, 39, was asked how many ounces were in a pound. He said 14 ounces but the answer is 16. He was then asked how many grams of sausages he would get if he ordered a pound, and answered 250g. The correct answer is 450g.¡

He got the final question — which is more, four pints or three litres — correct, answering the latter.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/minister-cant-convert-universally-understood-imperial-measures-zv73c2t9q

I prefer imperial measurements, but that's because I grew up with them and never could get on with metric at all. I have no idea what height 160cms is, I can't visualise a litre and can't cook with grams. I do know what a pint or a gallon looks like, how tall 5ft 4 ins is and how many miles it is to the nearest town. I cook with lbs and ounces and know my speeds in mph. I really would prefer a return to imperial but I do realise it's because I'm older, and they are more familiar.

I just asked my DF this on the back of this thread. I asked whether he thought allowing imperial measurements again was a good thing. DF is 92. His instinctive answer was yes it was a good thing.
By the time we had chatted about potential benefits for a few minutes he agreed it was pointless.

Slightly off piste but on Sunday dh was trying to order something but it was in imperial. He asked me how many inches were a foot.

Those are some great questions.

Just get Rees Mogg to say that 'well most people use Imperial measurements 'and get him to talk about pints and stones.

Then replace the currency with decimal currency and then ask Rees Mogg et al them. Get them to really use them

I'm of the generation that learned about the conversions but was only taught in metric.
On the back of the cornflakes packets we had rhymes which I still use:
Two and a quarter pounds of jam weighs about a kilogram.
Its five miles down the lane but eight kilometres back again.
A metre measures three foot three, its longer than a yard you see

A milkman buys his milk at 10d. per gall. and sells it at 4d. per quart. How much does he gain on 5 galls.? 2 shillings and 6d.

A person sold 2 eggs each day during June. If they were 1½d. each, how much was obtained for them? 7 shillings and 6d.

If the value of a square chain of land is £5, what should be paid for an acre? £320

A piece of cloth 3 yds. 2 inches long is cut into 11 equal strips. How long is each strip? 10 inches.

If ¾ cwt. of tea be made up into quarter pound packets, how many would there be? 336.

Find the price of 3 lbs. of tea at 1½d. per oz. Six shillings

How many inches are left after ¾ of a yard measure has been cut off? Nine

If milk costs 4d. per quart, what will 2½ galls. cost? 3 shillings and 4d.

What is the difference between 9 doz. and 9 score? 72

If a milkman leaves ½ pint of milk at each of 24 houses, how many galls. is that? One and a half

A piece of string is 1 ft. 3 in. long. How many such pieces would be required to stretch 3 yds. 1 ft.? Seven

If 1½ lbs. of sweets were divided among 4 boys, how much would each receive? six ounces each

If a gallon of water weighs 10 lbs., what will 1 gall. 3 pts. weigh? 13lbs 8 ounces

If 7 lbs. of soap be cut into 4 oz. tablets, how many will there be? 28

What does 1 lb. of wool at 4½d. per oz. cost?

How many lb. packets of tea can be made from 1½ cwts? 168

A man had ¾ of an acre to plough. He did one eighth of an acre on the first day, and a quarter of an acre on the second day. How much remained to be done?
half an acre

A rail is 3 ft. 9 in. long, and 26 of them are placed end to end. How far will they stretch? Answer in inches. 1170 inches

A plant has grown from 2 ft. 3 ins. to 5 ft. 2 ins. in one season. What is the increase in height? 2ft 11 inches

What would a gross of matches cost at 10½d. per doz.? 12 shillings and 6d

What does 1 lb. of wool at 4½d. per oz. cost?

oops! 6 shillings

Ffs we are not going back to imperial measurements. All they are doing are decriminalising the use of imperial measurements. So if a greengrocer wants to offer apples by the lb, they will be able to do so without fear of prosecution. As others have said we already use a combination of both systems, so it will make no difference. We ran a picture framers, and it was usual for people to order a 24cm by 30cm print and want a 3 inch wide mount. Di you know what? It was no problem. Prints we bought from most of the world we sized in mm, from the USA, in inches. It was no problem whatsoever.

Can't wait for the re-introduction of the abacus and horse drawn carriage!

To me the biggest issue is that scammers (especially online) would use selling in imperial to con people. ie They would put the units they were using somewhere very small and unnoticeable and they'd end up with less than they assumed.

I don't think we need to tighten up and remove selling milk and beer in pints, and measurements are often in inches, but we do not need to go backwards at greengrocers or butchers.

Of course it would be in maths lessons if it returned to being a standard set of measurements.

So if a greengrocer wants to offer apples by the lb, they will be able to do so without fear of prosecution

And if they don't have the equivalent in £ per kg, then it's going to be hard to do calculations.

So Ministers should be able to do such calculations. A product is £2 for 5 ounces vs £3 per 200 g in another shop . Which is better value for money?