[USMA:32173] RE: Irish road metrication

[David King]

Unfortunately too many people equate the EU with metrication in the UK, 
which is a shame because metrication should have been completed long 
before the EU existed. Other British Commonwealth countries became 
metric and are still metric, without any intervention from the EEC, EC 
or EU or Europe in general. I think that in the UK, resistance to metric 
does sometimes come from a view that metric is European, not British, 
and therefore, to remain British, we must avoid lots of European things 
like metric.

I think that if the EU wanted us all to use imperial then the UK would 
be a lot more metric, simply because too many British people oppose 
anything they see as being "European", regardless of its merits or usage 
outside of Europe.

In regards to leaving the EU, maybe the UK should leave, but whether it 
is a part of the EU or not, the UK would be better off being solely 
metric. There is no reason to have a choice of two systems, as it can 
lead to confusion, higher costs and disharmony. Choice is an illusion 
anyway, none of us really have much choice in anything. We make choices 
based on a limited number of choices available and often regret those 
choices later. And choice can be manipulated by those in power very 
easily, otherwise advertising would not exist.

David
Stephen Humphreys wrote:
Personally I am very anti-EU and would like the UK out of the EU on both
social, economic, political *AND* sovereignty issues. As far as
delusions of empire even my only living grand-mother isn't old enough to
remember such a thing.  However, I am proud of the commonwealth - but
not for reasons of "harking back to the empire", regardless of both the
good and bad things empire brought with it.  P.S. I'm Welsh (just in
case you'd want to know!  :-) )