Westminstenders: Tachographs and Empty Shelves

[pointythings]

So Grant Shapps' solution to the shortage of lorry drivers is to allow them to drive longer hours.

Leading to more accidents and deaths on the UK's roads. But Brexit is Job Done and all is well - isn't it?

I like weighing myself in stones - much smaller number

@Clavinova

Nice spot of French-bashing there from the M&S boss

He is quoted as referring to 'pointless byzantine EU rules’ elsewhere.

At least M&S will be launching its food range into 150 new countries with British Corner Shop.

And yet it was the quote about the French that was c&p'd. Precisely the point I was making in the latter half of my sentence (which was not c&p'd)...

There is a considerable difference, in terms of soft power, between having flagship stores on Paris high streets, including the Champs Elysées, and "launching your food range into 150 new countries" via someone else's website and their warehouses based in NL, but I have to confess I can't really be bothered explaining it.

I weigh myself in either stones or kilos. My kitchen scales are calibrated in both imperial and metric measurements. My late DM had some scales but judged everything by eye, and made good pastry, so it worked for her. I also find the American cup system most irritating, but no doubt they have a standard for measuring cups,(not just pulling any old cup out of the cupboard) so are in fact measuring by weight even if they don't know it.

Thinking about this overnight, I cannot but help think how utterly stupid this all is, and feel an increasing slow burning anger. Where are their priorities? I read elsewhere that the man who 20 years ago was prosecuted for only selling in lbs and oz was actually prosecuted for having incorrect scales, and giving people short measure, i.e. cheating people. Which is not the same. I also believe that the UK first proposed to move to metric measurements in the mid 19th Century, so this 'we hate the EU' nonsense is fully misplaced. Countries like India I know use metric measurements, as well as their own numbers like crores.

Going onto the AUKUS agreement. When we have said that the EEC/EU has helped to keep the peace in Europe, Brexiters immediately jump in to say that this was not because of that but was of NATO.

So much for NATO - the USA didn't bother to consult its NATO 'allies' when pulling out of Afghanistan, and has now angered another NATO member. We now find that AUKUS was a sly deal stitched up at the summer G7 conference. Furthermore we have a 'Government' which has the gall to talk about respecting International Law, when they themselves believe that international law is there to be broken when it's expedient to do so. A fact which won't be lost on the Chinese Government.

According to Tom Tugendhat (sp?) yesterday, China is guilty of "bullying countries using trade ..."

The sheer hypocrisy that anyone in Britain - let alone an elected official - feels they can criticise that is vomit inducing. And if China really wanted to bully countries using trade, the UK would probably be quite a good target.

According to Tom Tugendhat (sp?) yesterday, China is guilty of "bullying countries using trade ..."

Surely that’s the whole point of being a superpower?

It's exactly what the US will do when they get to us for a trade deal, ffs.

And Tom Tugendhat is one of the more sensible Tory MPs.

Re "bullying and trade hostility" it'll be interesting to see what happens to China's bid to join the CPTPP www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58579832

If other countries or blocs do it to the UK, it's 'bullying'. If the UK does it to other countries, it's 'free trading', 'global Britain' or at a pinch 'buccaneering'.

The hypocrisy never ceases to amaze me.

Re the CPTPP - didn't New Zealand say that if the UK failed to honour the GFA they would veto their entry.

With China applying, this could get interesting.

Re the re-introduction of imperial measures (and BTW it wasn't illegal to sell in imperial - it was just that the metric measure also had to be available/visible), as someone on Twitter pointed out: another one on the "To Do" list ticked off What's next

The education and training world are less than impressed with Imperial measures. Certainly they play fuck all part in trying to prepare students for a role in a global marketplace.

You jest DGR

Why ever should educationalists prepare students for roles in a global market place? They need to stay on Blighted Blighty to pick fruit and veg and work in care homes

Someone I know told me she voted for Brexit because she doesn't like using Metric She never learnt it at school apparently and always uses Imperial.

It'll make everything so much easier, of course.

What’s heavier: a pound of gold or a pound of feathers?

The answer actually is a pound of feathers, because gold is measured in Troy Ounces. But an ounce of gold is heavier than an ounce of feathers...

@Caleva

Someone I know told me she voted for Brexit because she doesn't like using Metric She never learnt it at school apparently and always uses Imperial.

She must be older than mid 60s then

I learnt it at primary school, ready for Decimal Day - and I turned 60 earlier this year Just checked with dh (62) and he too learnt it at school. Older kids, already at secondary, would likewise have learnt.

What our age group has, that younger people won't necessarily have, is a grasp of the conversions: so 6d = 2.5p (remember ha'pennies? ), 5p = 1 shilling, half a crown = 12.5p, 50p = 10 shillings and that 2.54cm = 1", 454g = 1lb etc

It's not rocket science - especially with modern smart phones that can do the conversions for you if you are mathematically challenged

Are they expecting that 80% of the population, who have grown up with metrification, pander to the

I'm 70 and had a Saturday job in Woolworths when decimal coins first came in, so this must have been 1968 or 69. Knitting wools went over to being sold in grammes in the early 70s, 1971 I think from memory. Just who exactly do they think this measure will appeal to?

Not only all of the above, but if Johnson really does want to make Britain Global, how is he going to get the world wide scientific community to change to Imperial measures? I know we learnt metric measures in science at secondary school - 1962 onwards.

But as Ian Dunt said last night on the Sky News Preview, BJ and his cohort of cronies. want us to froth about the stupidity of the "reintroduction" () of imperial measures.

It distracts from the Government's own mediocrity. Also the massive and growing trade imbalance with the EU.

I know I shouldn’t keep linking to the Mash. But honest to god, its stories seems more real than those in other media

www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/leaded-petrol-ditching-seatbelts-and-the-old-money-the-next-six-post-brexit-bonuses-20210917212181

Just another dead cat from the sea of mediocrity that is this iteration of the Tories.

Someone I know told me she voted for Brexit because she doesn't like using Metricconfusedhmmangry She never learnt it at school apparently and always uses Imperial.confused

She must be older than mid 60s then

No. She is a thick twat who deserves all they get.

I can still recall being taught the 24 hour clock at school and thinking "That was a fun start to the proper lesson while everyone hung their coats up".

My DM also had fuck all problems with metric. I guess touring Europe for a year in the late 50s can do that for you.

It's terribly unfashionable, and I only have experience to go by, but generally thick people have chosen to be thick. I can certainly remember there being a time when an IQ of 100 would have seen you able to pass a degree. In fact that was almost why 100 was 100 on the scale.

DGR - to be fair/accurate about my post, I did go on to say that such Metric-deniers/phobics, as well as being old, are effectively admitting that they are slow and/or thick

The really stupid thing is that the first moves towards metrication were made in the mid 19th Century. I have to go out now, otherwise I would look it up for you. So long, long before the EU was even thought of.