One would wonder what good it does to be anti-metric in government at a point where 90 % plus of the economy is already metric. Since metrication began as a business incentive it is business that would have the most to lose if there ever was a push to return to imperial as a primary measurement.
Since most political parties rely on contributions from those with deep pockets, I can't see where any party would want to jeopardize those contributions by being openly anti-metric. Unless they pretend to be anti-metric in word but not in deed. In other word, they pay lip service to anti-metric for the sake of the Luddites and dinosaurs. I'm not surprised that Stephen would support fringe parties based on a promise to make imperial the primary standard, even if he knows they never can or will. Jerry ________________________________ From: Ken Cooper <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, April 19, 2009 9:50:48 AM Subject: [USMA:44760] RE: Right-wing support for Imperial In general terms, however, in the UK, there is more anti-metric support within parties of the right & far-right.. As far as I am aware, only two well-known UK political parties actively support the reintroduction of Imperial as a primary measurement system. These parties are the far-right UKIP & the extreme-right (and racist) BNP. Stephen's knowledge of UK politics may be gauged by the fact that he thinks that "notable leftist" Peter Shore's surname is spelled "Shaw" --- On Thu, 16/4/09, Stephen Humphreys <[email protected]> wrote: From: Stephen Humphreys <[email protected]> Subject: [USMA:44694] RE: Nothing but Imperial To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Date: Thursday, 16 April, 2009, 12:04 PM Understood -but you actually read me wrong - I said "the USUAL MISTAKE of 'if you prefer imperial you're right wing - if you prefer metric you're left wing'" As in - it's a mistake to believe that the debate over metric or imperial (in the UK at least) can be strictly (and simply) drawn as left versus right. In the UK an 'imperial supporter' might be *mistakenly* assumed as being right wing (presumably authoritarian-right). Similarly some might *mistakenly* attach metric to a "socialist monster imposing it's rules from Europe" (presumably auth-left). So I'm not saying that metric or imperial is left wing or right wing - because I believe that's too simplistic (IMHO, of course!). By the way - the same goes for anti-EU people in the UK - there's a sort of ignorance that labels anti-EU activitists as right wing little Englanders - something that Peter Shaw and Tony Benn would shudder at (both notable leftist politicians). ________________________________ From: [email protected] To: [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Re: [USMA:44692] RE: Nothing but Imperial Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 07:26:50 -0400 You are mistaken Mr. Humphreys. Metric is NOT right wing as you say it is. Companies in the US are subtly converting to the SI because of the SI economic advantage - an advantage to taxpayers. It is the left who are against standardizing on the SI in the US, not the right. Stan Doore ----- Original Message ----- From: Stephen Humphreys To: U.S. Metric Association Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2009 4:36 AM Subject: [USMA:44692] RE: Nothing but Imperial Be aware that you might get the usual stuff about the Daily Mail being a right wing rag (the usual mistake of 'if you prefer imperial you're right wing - if you prefer metric you're left wing') - to an extent that a recently joined 'contributor' has used German nazi style words to describe the Daily Mail elsewhere (I kid you not). However - you'd find the same vocabulary in the Daily Mirror (which is left leaning) and probably even the Morning Star (Britains only official daily communist paper!). Incidentally - if this item was covered by any of the television stations here then they'd use the same terminology. In fact a lot of recent 'real life' style documentaries would be worded as such. Regards SteveH If someone follows up this thread with a claim that I have said that UK TV is 'exclusively Imperial' or that my sole purpose above is to create a (how's it called?) 'half-truth' that people 'only deal in imperial' and 'never use metric ever' then simply discard the nonsense. ________________________________ Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 02:20:44 +0000 From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: [USMA:44691] Nothing but Imperial Ran across this article today online in The Daily Mail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1170348/The-50-year-old-mother-spent-10-000-surgery-look-like-daughter.html While this article offers us more than one lesson, it certainly illustrates Stephen's point about the absence of SI in today's Britain in various quarters. Ezra ________________________________ Windows Live Messenger just got better. Find out more! ________________________________ Get the New Internet Explore 8 Optimised for MSN. Download Now
