What makes things worse is that she was a trained chemist, so she had received a scientific training. Her coat of arms (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher ) depict Sir Isaac Newton as one of her supporters in recognition of his own work as a chemist.
_____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Pat Naughtin Sent: 04 April 2010 00:57 To: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:47029] Saving the mile and the pint for Britain Dear All, I found this page at http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100402183300AAlPjkT and it reminded me of a media quote near the time when Margaret Thatcher left office. She is reported to have said in listing her achievements: 'We have saved the mile and the pint for Britain'. Now that the mile and the pint are the last remaining legal Imperial measuring words in the UK their existence is often used to justify the use of all of the old paraphernalia of the old defunct and deprecated measuring words. Somehow the simple (legal) existence of the mile and the pint allows people to morally justify the use of acres, inches, ounces, pounds, tons, and so on interminably. Margaret Thatcher might have been right in that the Tories 'saved the mile and the pint' in a legal sense, but in doing so they created a culture dedicated in large part to the dual expense of the hopeless muddle that measurement in the UK has become. With hindsight the damage that Margaret Thatcher has done to the education of children in the UK and to the economy is extraordinary. If we apply the Confederation of British Industry estimate of 9 % of turnover each year then the cost of simply saving two words is extraordinary. It is interesting that the mile and the pint have been defined in terms of metric units since 1959 so the Margaret Thatcher versions of the words mile and pint are, in fact, metric units hidden behind Imperial words. Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister of the UK from 1979 to 1990. Cheers, Pat Naughtin Author of the ebook, Metrication Leaders Guide, that you can obtain from http://metricationmatters.com/MetricationLeadersGuideInfo.html PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, Geelong, Australia Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com <http://www.metricationmatters.com/> for more metrication information, contact Pat at [email protected] or to get the free 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter to subscribe.
