At the Imperial Conference of 1902 (fore-runner of the Commonwealth Conference), the colonies were almost unanimous in their view that the Empire should adopt the metric system. Mauritius and the Seychelles had used the metric system since its implementation by the French as they were originally French colonies while the governments of the various Australian states said that they would follow the lead given them by Canberra. When Britain tried to pass the laws to make the metric system the standard system of units throughout the Empire, the Government was thwarted by those industries that wanted to keep foreign customers “tied in” to British products.
From: John Steele <[email protected]> Sent: 19 September 2021 18:46 To: [email protected]; Stephen Humphreys <[email protected]> Cc: USMA List Server <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [USMA 1800] Re: No, the UK isn't leaving the metric system Well, the 1875 Treaty of the Meter replaced the French flag with some kind of international flag. Pretty clearly, Customary waves the US flag, and Imperial the Union Jack; that is especially true as the rest of the British Commonwealth is more metricated than the UK itself. On Sunday, September 19, 2021, 12:14:49 PM EDT, Stephen Humphreys <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > wrote: Suggest you listen to younger people - especially those who are active in sports especially cricket and football I think the measure repeal thing is not to get people to switch back - it’s just for anything new wouldn’t have to avoid imperial. And it’s not flag waving in the same way metric doesn’t have a french flag Sent from my iPhone > On 19 Sep 2021, at 11:51 am, [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]> wrote: > > First of all, how are imperial units used in the United Kingdom? > > Almost everything in the United Kingdom is done using metric units, apart > from road signs (the specification for manufacturing and placement of roads > signs is done using metric units), the serving of draught beer and cider in > pubs (but beer and sider that is sold in bottles or cans have their sizes in > millilitres while wine and spirits are sold in miliilitre sized units), > newspapers usually quote personal weights and heights in imperial units, but > the medical profession uses metic units, grandma's hand-me-dowm recipes are > usually in imperial units, but recipes in newspapers and magazines aer in > metric units (A British recipe will quote "250 grams of flour" rather than "2 > cups of flour"), milk in the supermarket is usually (but not always) sold in > 1, 2, 4 or 6 pint containers, but farmers are paid by the litre. > > Last Friday a story appeared to have been "leaked" to The Times regarding > possible "watering down" of rules regarding metrication. None of the other > quality papers (The Daily Telegraph, the Guardian and The Independent) > appeared to carry the story. The Times editorial that day was scathing about > the proposal. The following day two letters were printed on the letters page, > neither of which gave any support to the Government on the issue and today a > cartoon appeared in the Sunday Times, again ridiculing both the prime > minister and the possibility of reverting to imperial units (See > https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thetimes.co.uk%2Farticle%2Fmorten-morland-sunday-times-cartoon-september-19-2021-sb9kw0f8z&data=04%7C01%7Cusma%40lists.colostate.edu%7Ce759b6683b464ee101ba08d97ba767bc%7Cafb58802ff7a4bb1ab21367ff2ecfc8b%7C0%7C0%7C637676781213724590%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=M2nDp6AfUO4hBZrfrByB4O8gkF9pCNUJftHYAG5805A%3D&reserved=0 > > <https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thetimes.co.uk%2Farticle%2Fmorten-morland-sunday-times-cartoon-september-19-2021-sb9kw0f8z&data=04%7C01%7Cusma%40lists.colostate.edu%7Ce759b6683b464ee101ba08d97ba767bc%7Cafb58802ff7a4bb1ab21367ff2ecfc8b%7C0%7C0%7C637676781213724590%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=M2nDp6AfUO4hBZrfrByB4O8gkF9pCNUJftHYAG5805A%3D&reserved=0> > > &data=04%7C01%7Cusma%40lists.colostate.edu%7C3cc3dc09afc24f66d46c08d97b889513%7Cafb58802ff7a4bb1ab21367ff2ecfc8b%7C0%7C0%7C637676648809520012%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=YOuERgwg6iBbpGEvVIhS4jOMRBrc08T8FWdpnkDyGoc%3D&reserved=0). > > For the record, The Times often prints two reader's letters on any one topic > - one in support of the topic and one against. Furthermore, in the run-up to > an election, The Times columnists offer a variety of rules while the editor > keeps silent until the last day before polling. > > Of the other papers, the Daily Mail and the Daily Express are populist > one-sided right-wing papers that cannot be taken seriously while the biggest > attraction in The Sun is the size of the Page 3 girl's breasts. > > The story is, I hope, a bit of sabre-rattling by a small minority. > > -----Original Message----- > From: USMA <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]> > On Behalf Of [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]> > Sent: 19 September 2021 02:46 > To: USMA List Server <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]> > > Subject: [USMA 1797] No, the UK isn't leaving the metric system > > From Reddit: > > There's been a couple articles (well, headlines) posted about the UK moving > away from metric, and while yeah that seems to be true (and I'm not too happy > about it), it's only subtly. > > The actual proposal is to repeal EU rules that meant that all products must > be sold in metric, allowing people to sell in imperial units if they choose. > This is mostly about market stalls and stuff, some of which might want to > (and yeah, it's a silly nationalist flag-waving thing), but there is no way > that any larger retailers, supermarkets, chain shops or anything of the sort > would stop using metric. > > I mean I have no idea how pounds, ounces, gallons etc. work, and apart from > the few things we still do use here (like feet and inches for height, miles > for road signs and speed), everyone under 30 uses the metric system. > Do I think this is a stupid step backwards only designed to appeal to a > subset of older patriotic Brits? Yep, absolutely, and it's an utter waste of > time policy. Are we leaving the metric system and returning to the imperial > one? Nope, that'd be ludicrous, it's not happening. > _______________________________________________ > USMA mailing list > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flists.colostate.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Fusma&data=04%7C01%7Cusma%40lists.colostate.edu%7Ce759b6683b464ee101ba08d97ba767bc%7Cafb58802ff7a4bb1ab21367ff2ecfc8b%7C0%7C0%7C637676781213724590%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=IVHeyeGyyXCB5NeDovdmcDHYxb8fSw2ozJV2hUWmPfw%3D&reserved=0 > > <https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flists.colostate.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Fusma&data=04%7C01%7Cusma%40lists.colostate.edu%7Ce759b6683b464ee101ba08d97ba767bc%7Cafb58802ff7a4bb1ab21367ff2ecfc8b%7C0%7C0%7C637676781213724590%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=IVHeyeGyyXCB5NeDovdmcDHYxb8fSw2ozJV2hUWmPfw%3D&reserved=0> > > &data=04%7C01%7Cusma%40lists.colostate.edu%7C3cc3dc09afc24f66d46c08d97b889513%7Cafb58802ff7a4bb1ab21367ff2ecfc8b%7C0%7C0%7C637676648809520012%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=gGOe1i5DRw6vl%2FQ8T%2Fn5BBJX2vbt1m%2F2El49eB5WJQE%3D&reserved=0 > > _______________________________________________ > USMA mailing list > [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flists.colostate.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Fusma&data=04%7C01%7Cusma%40lists.colostate.edu%7Ce759b6683b464ee101ba08d97ba767bc%7Cafb58802ff7a4bb1ab21367ff2ecfc8b%7C0%7C0%7C637676781213724590%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=IVHeyeGyyXCB5NeDovdmcDHYxb8fSw2ozJV2hUWmPfw%3D&reserved=0 > > <https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flists.colostate.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Fusma&data=04%7C01%7Cusma%40lists.colostate.edu%7Ce759b6683b464ee101ba08d97ba767bc%7Cafb58802ff7a4bb1ab21367ff2ecfc8b%7C0%7C0%7C637676781213724590%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=IVHeyeGyyXCB5NeDovdmcDHYxb8fSw2ozJV2hUWmPfw%3D&reserved=0> > > &data=04%7C01%7Cusma%40lists.colostate.edu%7C3cc3dc09afc24f66d46c08d97b889513%7Cafb58802ff7a4bb1ab21367ff2ecfc8b%7C0%7C0%7C637676648809520012%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=gGOe1i5DRw6vl%2FQ8T%2Fn5BBJX2vbt1m%2F2El49eB5WJQE%3D&reserved=0 _______________________________________________ USMA mailing list [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> https://lists.colostate.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/usma
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