Buddy can you spare a groat?

Posted by Barbara on June 6, 2022 in Blog, Brexit, Consumer issues, Europe, Food, Humour, Living today, Rants | 2 comments

They really have gone too far this time. I mean for goodness’s sake. Don’t they know there is a climate emergency? That war is raging in Ukraine? That girls in Afghanistan are being denied education? Not to mention the cost-of-living crisis and that the numbers of people using food banks are increasing exponentially?

Instead, HMG has decided that the key issue facing British people is the problems they are encountering with metric measures.  So to mark the Platinum Jubilee, the government wishes to roll back on the Weights and Measures Act 1985 and remove the obligation to use metric units at the point of sale.

Just what was wrong with street parties, bunting and concerts? Why ruin a perfectly good jubilee by introducing this crackpot idea? Did you know the government has issued a consultation paper and invited the public to complete a questionnaire on the topic? If you wish to take part, click here.

Some facts: it is wholly untrue to say that metric units have been imposed by the EU. They go back much further and are a world rather than a European standard. They are in fact a British invention, having been first proposed in the 17th century by an Oxford don, John Wilkins. If we want to be patriotic, then we should perhaps celebrate this fact with pride.

The UK’s journey towards metrication started in the 1860s, and it was in 1965, long before EEC entry was on the agenda, that the UK government made a definitive decision to metricate. In the 1970s the pace of change slowed and it was the Thatcher government that abolished the Metrication Board. Since then we have been in limbo, with some things done in metric and some not. This causes confusion and sometimes (as in the medical field) serious risk. There is a broad consensus that it is best to have one set of units which is recognised worldwide, and today that has to be metric.

Metric units are used not only in science, medicine, the building industry and in the kitchen, but also in most sports including all athletics. The argument commonly used by those who oppose metrication is that this is a matter of ancient freedoms, and traders and customers are entitled to use whatever units they wish.

It is perfectly legal for traders to display prices in imperial alongside metric. Indeed, my local market stall sells me tomatoes by the pound, while next door in the supermarket the unit of measurement is grammes. Re-adoption of imperial units only would mean many traders, and indeed trading standards offices, having to buy new equipment at considerable expense. This at a time of austerity would be indefensible.

Finally, metric units have been taught as the primary unit in schools since the 1970s. As the population ages there will be fewer and fewer people who have ever encountered imperial. Those who assert that imperial units are simpler should reflect on whether they themselves even understand all the units, and how they would add, multiply or divide, even with the help of a calculator.

So let’s continue to toast her Maj and celebrate her brilliant reign. I’m off to have a piece of the cake left over from yesterday’s street party: Victoria sponge with gooseberry & elderflower jam and cream filling. By the way, we did play guess the weight of the cake, and we did it in grammes.