My position:-
If safety is compromised then there must be one standard if having more
than one standard could be dangerous, like medicine and road signs.
However I cannot support denying someone the right to say "pound" when
they ask for apples or potatos.
No one is advocating denbying people any such rights. The object of the
exercise is to encourage people to do otherwise by reasoned argument and
explaining the benefits of a single system of measurement in the market
place.
People's minds can be changed if they are properly informed about the
issues and the reasons for change properly explained and justified.
I don't like the idea of "changing people's minds" from an autoritative
state point of view. I'd rather they change their own minds based on
their experiences, maximum exposure to choice, and a variety of sources
from which to mould and shape opinion.
What source would they be?
- Anti-metric campaigners tellng people it's going to cost a billion pounds
to change our road signs, (a figure which is totally unsubstantiatied and a
gross exaggeration)?
- Journalists like Christopher Booker writing in the Sunday Telegraph
telling his readers that it's illegal for historians to measure artifacts in
feet and inches?
- Metric martyr campaigners telling everybody Steven Thoburn was
criminialised for selling a pound of bananas?
