2001-01-05
This gibberish has to be over a year old. Don't they update anything?
John
----- Original Message -----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Friday, 2001-01-05 12:38
Subject: [USMA:10264] News from the BWMA
>
> To all,
>
> News from the BWMA. Do NOT enjoy!
>
> Han
>
> Defend your freedom to useBritish weights and measures
>
> Criminal to be British?
>
> >From the end of 1999 it is to be illegal to sell fruit, vegetables, etc.,
> priced by the pound. It will be a criminal offence to use our own- weights
and
> measures for trade in our own country. An ancient freedom will be lost.
>
> Compulsory metrication is undemocratic
> The edict already making metric units compulsory for pre-packaged goods,
and
> those sold by length, was rubber-stamped by Parliament without proper
> consultation or debate, against the public's wishes.
>
> Our weights and measures are preferred
> Most people, in all age groups, prefer customary weights and measures -
overall
> 74% of us prefer them. Only 7% want metric-only labelling.
>
> Feet and inches, gallons and pints, pounds and ounces are better
>
> They are more practical than metric units for easy division into useful
> fractions. They are also more convenient in size for everyday needs.
>
> Part of our heritage
>
> Our weights and measures have been used for centuries in our literature,
from
> Shakespeare to Roald Dahl. Their loss would further weaken understanding
and
> appreciation of this inheritance.
>
> Our units are used internationally
>
> Aircraft heights are in feet; computer printers all work in inches. German
> plumbers use inches. Few, if any, countries are wholly metric. The U.S.A.,
with
> the world's largest economy, uses our feet and inches, pounds and ounces,
and
> intends to continue doing so. Why shouldn't we?
>
> Ending compulsory metrication
>
> Many trade associations and chambers of commerce back our call to end
> compulsory metrication. So do over 90 MPs of all parties. But it needs
more
> active public support to get the Government to end compulsion.
>
> Helping to defend freedom
>
> You can help to restore freedom of choice and to save part of our heritage
by
> joining the British Weights and Measures Association. Tell others about
the
> campaign by distributing this leaflet (copies sent on request). Write to
your
> MP and to your local newspaper. The time to speak up is now.
>
> SUPPORT BRITISH WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
>
> Peter Alliss: "Sincere good wishes."
> Sir Tim Rice: "More power to your elbow!"
> Fritz Spiegl: "I support your aims passionately."
> Dick Francis: "May you whole-heartedly succeed."
> Sir Ranulph Fiennes: "I approve of your excellent aims."
> Bernard Levin: "I have every sympathy with its [the BWMA's] aims."
> Sandy Gall: "I should be delighted to be a member of your Association."
> Fred Dibnah: In my job as a steeplejack I will always measure everything
in
> yards, feet and inches."
> Christopher Martin-Jenkins: "Feet and inches are miles better and I shall
waste
> no chance to say and write so."
> Edward Fox: "Would not the entire world be wise to adopt our British
weights
> and measures system! Sophisticated simplicity."
> Jilly Cooper: "I'm so proud of being an honorary member of the British
Weights
> and Measures Association... and I'm very proud of all you're doing."
> Lord Shore of Stepney: "I deplore and condemn, unreservedly, the ludicrous
> legislation that would make the sale of foodstuffs in the United Kingdom
in
> pounds and ounces a criminal offence from the end of this year."
> Paddy Ashdown, MP: "Across Britain there are many shopkeepers who put
pounds
> and ounces on the food they sell. But ... Europe has decided they will be
> banned from doing this ... even if it helps their customers. This is
farcical!"
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
>
> British Weights and Measures Association
>
> Patrons: Lord Monson, Lord Shore, Vice-Admiral Sir Louis le Bailly, Dr
Patrick
> Moore 45 Montgomery Street, Edinburgh EH7 5JX. Tel: 0131556 6080
> Subscriptions Secretary: BWMA, 157 King Henry's Road, London NW3 3RD
>
> The subscription for one year is �10 (minimum).
>
> Visit the Association's Website at
http://members.aol.com/footrule/INDEX.HTML
>
> Related Articles: -
>
> Stupidity beyond measure by Roger Scruton
>
> Metric switch forces village shop to close by Christopher Booker
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
>
> Stupidity beyond measure
>
> ROGER SCRUTON
>
> While politicians debate whether to keep one kind of pound, they have
silently
> allowed the disappearance of another. After December 31 it will be a
criminal
> offence to sell products by the pound and the ounce. The reason for this
is
> that the DTI has not bothered to obtain the ten-year extension of our old
> imperial measures that was offered by the EC as a preliminary to
forbidding
> them. No more blatant example could be imagined of random law-making in
> defiance of popular wishes. The law compelling us to use the metric system
was
> never discussed or voted on by our elected represent- atives; and although
> opinion polls suggest that nine people out of ten are opposed to the
change,
> their desires count for nothing. The Eurocrats have decreed that the
metric
> system will be used, and another foundation-stone is to he removed from
the
> already tottering edifice of our national culture.
> Do weights and measures matter? Those who introduced the metric
system -
> the French Revolutionaries - answered with an emphatic "yes". Weights and
> measures mediate our day-to-day transactions; hence they are imprinted
with our
> sense of membership. They are symbols of the social order and
distillations of
> our daily habits. The old measures were redolent, the Revolutionaries
believed,
> of an hierarchical, backward-looking society. They were muddled,
improvised,
> and full of compromises. What was needed was a system expressive of the
new
> social order, based on Reason, progress, discipline and the future. Since
the
> decimal system is the basis of arithmetic, and since mathematics is the
symbol
> of Reason and its cold imperatives, the decimal system must be imposed by
> force, in order to shake people free of their old attachments.
> The conflict of currencies therefore expressed a conflict both
> political and philosophical. The distinction between the imperial and the
> metric systems corresponds to the distinction between the reasonable and
the
> rational, between solutions achieved through custom and compromise and
those
> imposed by a plan. Muddled though the imperial measures may appear to
those
> obsessed by mathematics, they are the produce of life. In ordinary
> transactions, measurement proceeds by dividing and multiplying, ihit by,
> adding. It makes sense to divide a gallon into half, a quart and a pint,
or to
> have 16 ounces to the pound.
> The antiquity of these measures - like that of our old coinage,
> arbitrarily jettisoned in a.previous fit of rationalism - is testimony to
their
> common sense. But the most important fact about them is that they are
ours.
> They are commemorated in our national literature and in our proverbs; they
have
> shaped our eating and drinking habits; they are the lingua franca of all
our
> books of recipes, all our manuals of gardening and husbandry and
handicraft,
> and the subject matter of a thousand schoolbooks.
>
> THE idea that we should be committing a crime by using them, and just
because
> some foreign bureaucrat has said so, is such an offence to the sense of
law and
> justice that we are surely under a moral obligation to go on using them
> nevertheless. If ever there were a case for civil disobedience, this is
it.
> There is another and deeper reason to resist these mad
imperatives. The
> French Revolutionaries believed that by changing weights and measures,
> calendars and festivals,
> street-names and landmarks, they could undermine the old and local
attachments
> of the people, so as to conscript them behind their international purpose.
The
> eventual result was Napoleon, who spread the metric system by force across
the
> Continent. In a small way the same is being done to us. The effect of
> destroying our weights and measures will be not only to undermine the old
local
> loyalties between shopkeeper and customer. It will be to destroy the small
> businesses that cannot afford the change. And we should ask who would
really
> want such a result.
> The answer, it seems to me, is clear. The supermarkets are
> international players, who have a vested interest in the metric system,
since
> it is applied in most of the countries from which they import their
products.
> If the measures on which old and local businesses depend are criminalized,
the
> supermarkets will score yet another advantage in their war on behalf of
the
> global government that will do most for their profits. Is that what we
want?
> Surely, it would have been nice of our dictators to ask us, before
commanding
> us to change.
>
> The Times, 9 December 1999
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
>
> Metric switch at the pumps forces village shop to close
>
> VISITORS to the remote Somerset village of Withypool on Exmoor are
delighted to
> see its vintage petrol pumps still in use, complete with 1950s Shell
globes.
> But the petrol station's owner, Tony Howard, 31, who also runs the village
shop
> across the road, has been faced with an impossible dilemma by the European
> Union's compulsory metrication policy, the final stage of which comes into
> force in Britain on January 1.
> Earlier this year Somerset trading standards officials observed
that
> his pumps were still measuring petrol in gallons. They told Mr Howard
that,
> since this was now a criminal offence under the EU's metrication directive
> 80/181, he must take steps to comply with the law. He discovered that to
instal
> new metric pumps would cost him around �11,000.
> "Since my average monthly profit from petrol sales is only �23.93,
this
> is out of the question," he says. "I only keep the pumps going because
they
> provide a service for the local community and give such pleasure to
visitors."
> But Mr Howard was then horrified to discover that even to
discontinue
> use of the pumps would cost him nearly �9,000, because under safety rules
he
> would have to pay to have the tanks filled in. Either way will cost him
far
> more than could be afforded by the small business into which he sunk his
> savings when he moved from Buckinghamshire two years ago. Withypool will
thus
> lose not only the only petrol station for miles but also its shop.
> In Septernber Mr Howard wrote to Howard Burnett, "head of
metrology at
> Somerset council, asking what he should do. He emphasized how vital his
shop
> and post office is to the rural community, by providing a whole range of
> additional services, from taking in dry-cleaning to supplying newspapers.
In a
> letter last month he was reminded that, with "the final metrication of
trade
> transactions taking place at the end of this year", he must comply with
the law
> by January 1.
> More informally, the local officials say they have made inquiries
of
> central government as to whether Mr Howard's existing pumps could not he
> modified much more cheaply, to show litres rather than gallons on the
dial. But
> the response has not been hopeful. And in 12 days' time, if Mr Howard
continues
> to sell petrol in non-metric measures, he will be in breach of European
law,
> liable to fines of up to �5,000 or imprisonment for each offence,
> Ironically, as the same deadline approaches, the European
Commission
> itself is still grappling with the problem of how, when use of non-metric
units
> becomes illegal, European exporters can comply with United States law
which
> makes use of imperial units compulsory. Last week another directive was
rushed
> through the European Parliament, allowing continued "interim" use of
non-metric
> measures as "supplementary indications" on products sold between America
and
> the EU. But the Commission expressed angry impatience at the US's failure
to
> join the worldwide metric system, suggesting that, until the Americans see
> sense, they "should amend their present legislation" to allow EU firms to
sell
> them goods labelled in metric only.
> To demonstrate the beautiful rationality of the metric system, the
same
> directive enacted a new legal definition of Celsius temperature, where "t
is
> defined as the difference t = T - Tn between the two thermodynamic
temperatures
> T and Tn where Tn = 273.15K. An interval or difference of temperature may
he
> expressed either in kelvins or in degrees Celsius. The unit 'degree
Celsius' is
> equal to the unit 'kelvin' ".
>
> Christopher Booker, Sunday Telegraph, 19 December 1999
>
>
