Cumulus Support

W.T.F. In the Times today at 5h50pm BST

In 2001 a greengrocer from Sunderland arguably did more than any politician to set Britain on the path towards Brexit when he was convicted for breaching EU rules banning the sale of fruit and vegetables in pounds and ounces.

Now, 20 years on, Boris Johnson is to make good on a pledge to vindicate the cause of the “metric martyr” by announcing the return of imperial weights and measures.

Under plans unveiled by ministers today it will once again become legal for market stalls, shops and supermarkets to sell their goods using only Britain’s traditional weighing system.

Back to before the war.
DON'T MENTION THE WAR...

I Didn't....

https://youtu.be/yfl6Lu3xQW0

It's not really news to be honest. The UK uses both metric and imperial..

To Follow up for Clarity; the influential molding I received as as young Aussie from my Grandfather who Served in the Air Force but not Overseas.

In all those early years I heard what superb engineers the Germans where, with particular reference to Measuring instruments & Tools.
A nation that built things of quality, with talent to be admired.

Similar equipment made in England was certainly not inferior in his teachings, but he always tended to consider something made in Germany to just be slightly superior.

And did not ever hear anything derogatory about the Country or it's People.

@Mapantz: Maybe informally the UK does, but The Times and Johnson are not gong to announce such thing if it were totally irrelevant. Would they?
@Phil: Yes a BMW has a better reputation then a Norton (Motorbikes), but I shouted it because of the regressive steps the UK is taking are kind of frightening. Oh how we are missing Monty Python in dire times... (and not only in UK).

But anyway, If science doesn't go retro, it'll be fine.

https://ukma.org.uk/why-metric/myths/co ... rotection/ provides a more balanced view of the article. In a nutshell, traders were legally obliged from the year 2000 to measure by using the metric system goods sold to consumers. The UK has continued to use both imperial and metric units in everyday life - which the EU was happy to endorse - but not for measuring for sale. It isn't particularly confusing, not even for those born since 2000. Whether or not it is a regressive step is a matter of opinion. It certainly isn't going back to "before the war" (unless you mean the Middle East wars).

Every speed warning sign and distance sign in the UK is in imperial. It will probably remain so for decades. The cost of replacing them would run into many millions of pounds.

During Concorde’s development French engineers measured in metric; the British used imperial. That didn’t work out too bad did it?

RayProudfoot wrote: ↑Fri 17 Sep 2021 8:29 am French engineers measured in metric; the British used imperial.

That's fake : check out this Veritasium video: Is America Actually Metric?.
OK, this is the US but no doubt also holds for the UK.

This keeps a lot of people off the street no doubt but does it actually create something positive?
What is the actual contribution to the world? Or wait.... this is about the UK (and the US)... have your own identity expressed in pints.

Oh.... and wrt the Concorde, it has never been claimed that conversions are impossible. With check and double check. Well now with computers things are easier, true. But my guess is that if you ask the engineers, the would have loved to use only one (metric) system. You can't come up with the Concorde as an argument PRO-imperial. That is simply .... well....

freddie wrote: ↑Fri 17 Sep 2021 8:10 am https://ukma.org.uk/why-metric/myths/co ... rotection/ provides a more balanced view of the article. In a nutshell, traders were legally obliged from the year 2000 to measure by using the metric system goods sold to consumers. The UK has continued to use both imperial and metric units in everyday life - which the EU was happy to endorse - but not for measuring for sale. It isn't particularly confusing, not even for those born since 2000. Whether or not it is a regressive step is a matter of opinion. It certainly isn't going back to "before the war" (unless you mean the Middle East wars).

Sorry, I still don't get it why UK would need imperial units. It is just an extreme of identity politics. Where do you go from here, the dark ages?

Interesting article here (and see the video in my previous post). There is no rational argument here, just identity politics, creating confusion, bullying, the finger etc...

Gets more confusing when you realise UK gallons are different in volume to US gallons!

And tyre sizes are a mixture of imperial and metric!

Yes, confusing it is. And it is (confusion) by design.

Don't forget to view the second part of the video.

HansR wrote: ↑Fri 17 Sep 2021 8:51 am
That's fake : check out this Veritasium video: Is America Actually Metric?.
OK, this is the US but no doubt also holds for the UK.

This keeps a lot of people off the street no doubt but does it actually create something positive?
What is the actual contribution to the world? Or wait.... this is about the UK (and the US)... have your own identity expressed in pints.

Oh.... and wrt the Concorde, it has never been claimed that conversions are impossible. With check and double check. Well now with computers things are easier, true. But my guess is that if you ask the engineers, the would have loved to use only one (metric) system. You can't come up with the Concorde as an argument PRO-imperial. That is simply .... well....

Not it's not fake. I've seen proper Concorde videos that confirm what I stated.

What has any of this to do with you Hans? You seem to like stirring up things. What we do in the UK is down to us and no-one else. Thank God we're out of the protectionist EU and can make our own decisions.

Identity politics? If the Brits are happy with mixed then it's more like personal choice. We're perfectly happy to use metric where it is the standard (i.e. most things!).

RayProudfoot wrote: ↑Fri 17 Sep 2021 10:23 am Not it's not fake. I've seen proper Concorde videos that confirm what I stated.

Yes it is fake (did you see the video?) : imperial = metric * conversion factor. The standard is metric.

RayProudfoot wrote: ↑Fri 17 Sep 2021 10:23 am What has any of this to do with you Hans? You seem to like stirring up things. What we do in the UK is down to us and no-one else. Thank God we're out of the protectionist EU and can make our own decisions.

Sure, I am not stirring up anything, I am just in favour of the SI system and against subversive actions against it.

I would say the UK is stirring up things. But be my guest, I am fully aware I cannot stop you but at least I can express myself and try to convince you of the opposite as there seems nobody in the UK who is able to.

RayProudfoot wrote: ↑Fri 17 Sep 2021 10:23 am What we do in the UK is down to us and no-one else.

To single out this statement I would like to say that this is more or less the root cause of all evil. You are not alone. You are part of your family, village, country, continent, world. Denying that is not a great proof of global citizenship.

But continuing on this - I could and would - would lead to a discussion for which I think is no place here on the CMX forum, so I won't.
The subject itself touches meteorology of course and that is why I posted it. With some of my cynical undertones, yes.

It's just a regressive populist move for his voters over the age of 60-70.

Nobody under the age of 50 has really used imperial units much at all. I'd say most people under 40 don't have clue what most imperial units are - exceptions being things like miles for drivers which never went away.

In reality I don't see this affecting much at all, manufacturers and main retailers are not going to use imperial again, it will be a handful of market traders and corner shops trying to make a point. For me it's just a vote grab brexit publicity stunt.