Ditch the firkin pint mile and pound September 11, 2007
Posted by Andy Roberts in : politics, UK , trackbackIs this good news?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6988521.stm
EU gives up on ‘metric Britain’
The European Union is set to confirm it has abandoned what became one of its most unpopular policies among many people in Britain.
It is proposing to allow the UK to continue using pounds, miles and pints as units of measurement indefinitely.
I don’t think so. On the one hand it’s correct that the decision to continue using antiquated units of measurement is up to the British to decide. Joining the metric club should be a voluntary progressive decision, not something imposed by a less than democratic European Commission. On the other hand if we carry on talking about miles and pounds indefinitely it’s going to make the struggling UK culture sound even more like a part of America and less European oriented. Besides all that, the base ten system is clearly more logical and simpler to learn than the historical mish mash of imperial measures.
is an online professional who initiated DARnet 
As for the US, I think most people misunderstand the issue with “miles”. This is simply a matter of money. There is little resistance to going metric on a philosophical level, as so many Europeans seem to think. The US interstate highway system is the largest road system in the world. Back in the 70s it was determined that it would cost many billions of dollars to convert the highways to metric. Back around 1990, during Bush Sr.’s term, he signed an executive order to convert the highways to metric by the year 2000, but conveniently set the date in another President’s term, effectively giving himself all the credit for the program, but pushing the financing for it into the next President’s term, making it somebody else’s problem to pay for it. Clinton scrapped the idea. Why spend billions of dollars of tax payers’ money during his administration on a program that his predecessor will then claim all the credit for? The bottom line is the bottom line— Nobody wants to pay the overhead cost of making the conversion.
I’m not really that bothered by US politics but the idea that important public policy regarding long term expenditure is totally dependent on the personal interests of one career politician is pretty crazy though really, isn’t it?