The government actually IS doing a consultation on bringing back imperial measurements!

[Kendodd]

I thought it was a joke.
AIBU to think this is a complete load of bollocks waste of money?

The questions don't even give you the option of saying just keep metric.
Example question -
For Consumers,

a) If you had a choice, would you want to purchase items:

(i) in imperial units?

(ii) in imperial units alongside a metric equivalent?

www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1079711/choice-on-units-of-measurement-markings-and-sales-consultation.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwjchIqM1pT4AhXIPsAKHWSZBW0QFnoECAUQAQ&usg=AOvVaw05usEgoqbR2NHfgE3SzAYH

Then what did the EU directive change

It made certain units standard across the EU that had to be displayed and used as standard with goods. Across the EU.

As you said, goods could continue to also be sold in Imperial

It wasn't a 'switch' as such - because goods could also be continued to be sold in Imperial.

I responded to the consultation last week - called it a vanity project. Some of the examples the consultation gives in support of the Imperial system are so superficial. Talks about running Imperial and metric alongside each other - so how is that going to work in a pub - 2 sets of optics?

I said it would cause barriers to trade to the 2 countries we have signed trade agreements with - Australia and Japan. Businesses do not need the extra hassle of running 2 systems in parallel.

I would urge anyone with 30 mins to spare to comment upon the proposals - volume of responses required so they can't say no one objected.

Personally I would welcome our road signs changing to Kilometres. I have no idea how many yards, chains or furlongs to a mile. I started school in 1965 and have never been taught the Imperial system - it's completely alien to me

Personally I would welcome our road signs changing to Kilometres. I have no idea how many yards, chains or furlongs to a mile. I started school in 1965 and have never been taught the Imperial system - it's completely alien to me

I could do 1/2 mile. But if someone says it's 300 yards, I would struggle to know what fraction of a mile that was but would know it's about 300 metres.

Even the Americans managed a better approach

However, in one way, this isn't a bad initiative. It's a wonderful way to spot the terminally dim at 100 paces (now there's a measurement !) and avoid wasting any energy on.

It was tried in the 1970s and found to be illegal by the courts. Carpet sellers didn't like the fact that selling by the square metre leads to a bigger number than selling by the square yard, so they tried to sell by the "0.84 m²"

The EU don't ban anyone from using the imperial system. That's was just Brexit bullshit propaganda for thick people.

Weights and measures is one of those areas where giving people a choice is a bad idea. Trying to run two systems at the same time leads to confusion and error. In the NHS at least two people have died because they have been given an incorrect dose due to a conversion error. One was a newborn who died of an overdose of a drug and the other was a teenage cancer patient given too much radiation. An airliner ran out of fuel because the pilot thought he had 22 000 kg of fuel when he only had 22 000 pounds.

The UK started its metrication programme in 1965, with an intended finish date of 1975. The UK government was happy to agree to metrication as part of its entry to the European Community as this was already government policy. The 1981 EU directive required the UK to produce metrication legislation itself, which was duly passed by Westminster. So, the EU did not ban us from using Imperial units - that was done by our own elected MPs (for good reason).

Your baby was weighed in kg for the NHS records but it was reported to you in Imperial. Someone was trying to be helpful. The fact that our road signs are still Imperial is a disgrace and it has consequences. Foreign lorry drivers, unfamiliar with Imperial, have been hitting low bridges for years and it is only recently that bridges have been dual-marked. Foreign vehicles have no requirement to have dual-marked speedometers and unless we plan to cease all foreign trade this will lead to accidents.

The UK started its metrication programme in 1965

Metrication was first proposed in 1863

The EU did ban businesses from only using the imperial system.

Private businesses should be able to sell in any measuring system they want, they should be able to invent their own. Treat people like adults and let them choose what they want to use. If people don't want to use imperial (or metric), they will spend their money elsewhere. I strongly suspect that given the choice, most business would label their products in both metric and imperial. But this should be their choice to make.

Well, no. Because there are such things as international common standards. And they are essential, because without them safety is compromised. Car manufacturers are private businesses. Should they be allowed to make up their own engine capacity measurements? What an utterly ridiculous idea.

The EU allowed Imperial measures to be displayed alongside metric. Metric has been taught in schools for decades. This fetishisation of imperial measures is more of the great British delusion of Empire.

It isn't coming back, guys. Get over it.

Old thread from last year.

I suspect this was punted into the very long grass the moment the ghost pencil Rees-Mogg left government. Haven't heard a bean about it since.

Fucking bananas idea anyway.

@pointythings

"Well, no. Because there are such things as international common standards. And they are essential, because without them safety is compromised. Car manufacturers are private businesses. Should they be allowed to make up their own engine capacity measurements? What an utterly ridiculous idea."

Well, American vehicles' engines are measured in cubic inches.

How is that utterly ridiculous?

If car manufacturers want to get together and agree to use metric in the name of safety, they should absolutely be able to. But if another manufacturer wants to use imperial, they should absolutely be able to do this as well. Metric isn't inherently "safer" than imperial.

'Metric isn't inherently "safer" than imperial.'

True, neither system is inherently safer, but conversion errors are a safety risk. SI metric units are the international standard used almost everywhere. British Imperial units differ in some respects from American Customary Units. While American miles are the same, American gallons, pints and fluid ounces are different. A British owner of an American-made Cessna light aircraft ran out of fuel because of a mix-up between US gallons and Imperial gallons.

PS The US car industry is now metric. Cars are designed and manufactured in metric units and require metric-standard tools to service them.

@VeniVidiWeeWee it isn't, of course. Way to miss my point. American manufacturers all use cubic inches. There isn't one that uses the Smurf, another that uses the Caffeine Index and yet another that measures its engine sizes in cats. Because that would be a problem. The more different systems you have, the more potential for serious error.

@Florenz in a world where the norm is metric, a manufacturer would have to be stupid to use anything else. Or a Brexit headbanger.

UK retailers were always allowed to display in both metric and Imperial. I don't understand why you have a problem with this (actually I really do).

Knock yourself out

www.theregister.com/Design/page/reg-standards-converter.html

engines should - of course - be measured in gf - grapefruits.

"@Florenz in a world where the norm is metric, a manufacturer would have to be stupid to use anything else. Or a Brexit headbanger."
I agree but it should not be illegal for them to do so. People would be a lot more accepting of Metric measures (and other EU meddling) if it wasn't opposed on them at gunpoint, but they were given a choice of which to use, and over time, metric won out and the businesses that used imperial either failed or were forced to change to metric by their own volition.

I can personally guarantee that if the UK scrapped requirements to measure in accepted systems, within 5 onoseconds, there would be a post on MN about it being unfair that kumquats are now sold by the unicorn fart so you can't compare Waitrose with Tescos who sell them by the snowflake squared. Meanwhile this isn't just a beetles turd, it's an M&S beetles turd, as you weigh out the quinoa.

Metrology - the science of measuring - is probably one of the oldest known to man. They've found fine scales buried with pharaohs from over 5,000 years ago. And it went hand in hand with very strict laws about what units you use. I men very strict laws. Like, laws you probably need to read about before a meal.

@Florenz but the rule was never that it had to be metric only. It just had to be both, not Imperial only. I repeat: you'd have to be a Brexit headbanger with delusions of Empire to object to that. It was a simple, pragmatic solution. It's not the EU's fault so many people in the UK are hard of thinking.

Also, why is metrication the devils work, but decimalisation never mentioned ? Why aren't we going back to "good old" Pounds Shilling and Pence ? Get rid of this suspiciously French "decimal" thing.

If we're going to kill our trade dead, we may as well put a stake in it's heart and make sure it can't get up again.

(now, you're just being silly, Jane)

Over 1000 years of British laws disagree with you that any business should be able to sell in any measuring system they like

Trading Standards enforce weights and measures legislation ensuring that businesses are clear & honest to customers with the ability to understand and compare

The EU didn’t even ban the use of only imperial units in UK business.

www.gov.uk/weights-measures-and-packaging-the-law

Draught beer & cider sold by pints
Milk in returnable containers by pint
(eg milk bottles from the milkman but not supermarket jugs - unless the supermarket introduced a returns process)
Precious metals in troy ounces

Under weights and measures certain commodities retained imperial measures.
Businesses have been able to deviate from the norm if they clearly show the ‘official’ metric as well as their chosen metric

But businesses were allowed to use only metric. But not only imperial. This was wrong. And it was things like this that allowed resentment to build up and eventually to Brexit.

I'd happily go back to imperial currency.

Correction
It was rhetoric that allowed resentment to build up and lead to Brexit

But businesses were allowed to use only metric. But not only imperial.

@Florenz given that the UK has been fully metric for many decades, why would using both be a problem? How many people are there who are intellectually unable to handle both things side by side and work out how much things cost/weigh? Only imperial would have made life difficult for the majority of people. The demand for it would have come only from the above mentioned Brexit headbangers with delusions of Empire. Who would have died off in a couple more decades anyway.

Brexit came about because of decades of propaganda from the right wing press coupled with a complete lack of political and economic literacy among the electorate. And an absolutely dire Remain campaign.

What is wrong with giving people the freedom to choose whether they want to use metric or imperial?