UK metric debate in the House of LordsTo cut to the chase, the point is that
the day-to-day lives of British people are being impinged upon by a leadership
that is largely foreign. Not since the Roman and Norman times has anything
like this been the case.
If metrication is to be successfully completed in the UK (or the US), it must
be carried out by British (or American) nationals who build a consensus for
metrication among the people. Any attempt to force it from outside, or even
in-country by nationals arguing that "the rest of the world uses it, therefore
we should too" will trigger the same nationalistic opposition every time.
Like it or not, the British and the Americans are ornery peoples, and any
metrication effort that does not take this into account is doomed to failure.
-- Jason
----- Original Message -----
From: Martin Vlietstra
To: U.S. Metric Association
Sent: Monday, January 15, 2007 11:31 AM
Subject: [USMA:37745] Re: [off-topic] Re: UK metric debate in the House of
Lords
A good deal of the problem in the UK is that we are an island, that going to
another country takes more effort than for most of our EU neighbours and that
certain politicians are whipping up public opinion for the sake of cheap
publicity.
The truth about representation is:
The EU is run by the EU Commission. The US equivalent is the President &
Executive. The UK equivalent is the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
The EU Commission is composed of 25 members, each one nominated by a member
state (usually an ex-minister). The democracy element is probably on a par
with the US and the UK - the US President is elected indirectly by the people
and the US Executive is nominated by the President, while in the UK the Prime
Minister is the leader of the party that wins the election and the Cabinet are
nominated by the Prime Minister from elected Members of Parliament. (He
usually only nominates MP's from his own party).
The "Upper House" of the EU is the Council of Ministers. It is roughly
equivalent to the Senate in the US and the House of Lords in the UK. The
Council of Ministers is composed of the ministers of state of the various
member states - ie all the Finance ministers will discuss finance, all the
transport ministers will discuss transport and so on. It is very closely
modelled on the German Upper House. It is probably less democratic than the US
Senate, but certainly much more democratic than the House of Lords.
The "Lower House" of the EU is the EU Parliament. Its equivalent is Congress
in the US and the House of Commons in the UK. As in both the US and the UK,
its members are directly elected.
Finally, all EU directives need to have the consent of all three bodies.
It is just a pity that so few people understand how the EU works. I believe
that there is a direct correlation about the number of half-truths that are put
about in newspapers concerning the EU and the amount of clothing that the
pin-up girls in the same newspapers wear - (the greater the number of
half-truths, the less the pin-up girls wear).
----- Original Message -----
From: James Jason Wentworth
To: U.S. Metric Association
Sent: Monday, January 15, 2007 6:12 PM
Subject: [USMA:37744] Re: UK metric debate in the House of Lords
Hello Pat,
All of your points are true and well-taken. But these anti-metric
reactions in the UK House of Lords are the visible manifestation of something
that goes far beyond metrication. Many people throughout the EU, particularly
in Western European nations, are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with it.
This dissatisfaction stems from the fact that their lives are now being
regulated by bureaucrats in Brussels whom they cannot directly vote for or
against. Also, on issues such as capital punishment, the EU government is out
of step with national majorities and pluralities of its people (this was
revealed by polling at the time of Saddam Hussein's execution).
Not only are many British people angry that non-British politicians are
telling them what units to use, but I know Germans who are angry that so many
Italians have moved into their country due to the new "borderless" EU
regulations and Dutch farmers who are angry because they had to destroy many of
their not-proven-to-be-ill cattle (during the foot-and-mouth disease epidemic)
due to EU agricultural regulations.
As frustrated as I sometimes become with my senators, congressman (we only
have one for all of Alaska), and president, I am secure in the knowledge that I
can directly vote for or against them. Because they know that too, they *do*
listen to me and to my fellow citizens. The citizens of the EU member nations
have no such direct control over the EU government, and as a consequence the EU
ministers can merrily craft their regulations "in a vacuum," as I've heard
British friends of mine complain.
It's ironic that the British are now getting a taste of something not
terribly dissimilar to that which prompted our revolution in 1776. Instead of
taxation without representation, it's regulation without representation. The
psychological effect of this pressure from a distant leadership that does not
understand the needs of its people may have the same results; Just as we
changed to a decimal currency system and even reformed English spelling to
express our defiance toward Britain, if the EU forces the metric issue the
British may dig in their heels and cling to Imperial measures (and perhaps even
expand their use) to express their defiance toward the EU.
-- Jason
----- Original Message -----
From: Pat Naughtin
To: U.S. Metric Association
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, January 15, 2007 2:23 AM
Subject: [USMA:37742] UK metric debate in the House of Lords
Dear All,
You might be interested in this debate entitled 'EU: Non-metric Terms'
held in the UK House of Lords on Monday 2006-11-27.
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/lords/?id=2006-11-27a.541.0&s=speaker%3A13076
The debate seems to me to be liberally larded with misinformation and
thoughtless nationalist posturing with the main arguments being based on some
vague idea of tradition and a strong personal distaste for foreign ideas.
My first reaction was to comment on all of the mistruths and errors
contained within the thoughts of the various participants, but then I realised
that they all had one thing in common — they seemed to have no idea how much
their non-decision is costing their nation.
All parties to this debate seem to be quite unaware of the costs of
non-metrication in the UK.
Here are some questions that I think might usefully be asked in the House
of Lords in their next metric debate:
◊ How many UK businesses have lost European orders or contracts because
they could not do the job in metric?
◊ How many UK businesses have not even been approached for quotations or
estimates because European businesses automatically assume that businesses in
the UK cannot do metric work?
◊ How much time and paper is wasted each day in UK offices as people try
to layout page designs in inches and fractions of inches when they are using
metric paper sizes? My estimate is about 10 % of office paper is wasted every
day because of measurement issues. See the article, 'Page borders — Inches or
millimetres' at http://www.metricationmatters.com/articles
◊ How many UK businesses have had to pay a premium for metric parts
because they only bought enough for a specific job?
◊ How many have made costly mistakes in converting a metric job to old
pre-metric measures?
◊ How many people have had to be terminated because they could not work
in metric units? How much does it cost to find and employ their replacements?
◊ How much are the people of the UK prepared to pay to be different to
everywhere else in Europe?
◊ How much does it cost to have someone buying one fastener when they
need the other and having to make a second trip to the store to rectify the
problem?
◊ How much does it cost to retrain UK school leavers in old measures when
they have been taught the metric system at school every year since 1965?
◊ How many UK citizens cannot find employment in other countries because
it is assumed that they won't be able to use metric units?
◊ How much extra does it cost UK industry for duplicating products in
both metric and old pre-metric measures?
◊ How much extra does it cost UK industry for keeping both the metric and
the old pre-metric inventories separate?
◊ How much extra does it cost UK industry to have stores that have to
carry both metric and old pre-metric measures?
◊ How much extra production costs are involved with making products like
fasteners in both metric and old pre-metric measures?
◊ How much has not-going metric really cost the UK? My estimate is about
10 % of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or about £114 billion per year ($223
billion USD). See: the article 'costs of non-metrication' at
http://www.metricationmatters.com/articles for details of this estimate in a
USA context.
◊ How much is it going to cost the UK for not being metric between now
and when the politicians finally accept that the complete adoption of the
metric system in the UK is not only the most sensible decision that the House
of Lords could support but also that it is inevitable anyway?
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
PO Box 305, Belmont, 3216
Geelong, Australia
Phone 61 3 5241 2008
Pat Naughtin is the editor of the free online monthly newsletter,
'Metrication matters'.
You can subscribe at http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter
Pat is also recognised as a Lifetime Certified Advanced Metrication
Specialist (LCAMS) with the United States Metric Association. He is also editor
of the 'Numbers and measurement' section of the Australian Government
Publishing Service 'Style manual – for writers, editors and printers'. He is a
Member of the National Speakers Association of Australia and the International
Federation for Professional Speakers. See: http://www.metricationmatters.com
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