It appears that our prime minister, as part of the post-Brexit process of tearing up the EU rule book, plans to make his mark on the platinum jubilee celebrations by pledging to bring back pounds and ounces in an expected announcement this week.
At present, traders are legally obliged to use metric measurements when selling packaged or loose goods in England, Scotland and Wales. Imperial measures of pounds and ounces were replaced by metric measurements of grams, kilograms, millilitres and litres.
The business minister, Paul Scully says: “We are reviewing the EU ban on the use of imperial measures for markings so that businesses have more choice over the measures they use.” He goes on to say: “This is an important step in taking back control of our national rules, and we will consult to ensure that we have the best evidence available on which to make changes. An assessment of the economic impact on businesses will be carried out in due course.”
As a reminder, 1,000 grams equal one kilogram and there are 14 pounds in a stone and 16 ounces in a pound. For liquids, a pint is equal to 20 fluid ounces, there are 160 fluid ounces in a gallon and 1,000 millilitres in a litre.
If this pledge is announced I’m sure the opposition parties will have something to say about it but what do you think? Should we stick with metric now that we are getting used to it or should we go back to the old tried and tested imperial measures? Maybe we should welcome both options and give ourselves fewer restrictions and more choice.
Many people quote the well used phrase “I’ve put on a few pounds” when assessing their weight as we of a certain generation have been used to thinking in imperial but with the imposed introduction of metrication we had no choice but to accept change. If we are given the choice to think and buy our purchases in either imperial or metric will this make life easier or more complicated?
Personally I still think in pounds and ounces (and feet and inches) but our old-fashioned scales used in the photographs are calculated in both metric and imperial so therefore we have the opportunity to choose between them.
Image Credits: Nick Forman .
I mean seriously, who cares?
It was wrong to change it in the first place but would be wrong to change it back again. It would cause even more confusion.
Why did we ever move away from the simple imperial measures, weights, liquids and even money and change to a really complicated system where everything can be divided by ten.
Why oh why would we want to take such a massive step backwards?
Here’s an example of how stuck in the past we are, how much is a litre of petrol? everyone knows that, but how many miles to the litre does your car do?
Chances are you’ll know how many mile to the gallon it does but how much is a gallon of petrol.
We have moved forward and need to continue to do so.
Actually I do care, not about the actual measurements but about what this says about our government. Given the current state of this country, what with raging inflation, more and more people falling into poverty, an appalling housing and health crisis and a rudderless government, not to mention a worldwide pandemic and a European war, this is just a 21st century equivalent of fiddling whilst Rome burns or re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. What we need are solid pro-active policies driven by sound strategic thinking to address the needs of our country, not knee-jerk, reactive nods to nostalgia.
I am not optimistic…….
Well, it’s quite significant really. I mean, it’s an insane Boris ‘brain burp’ based on self preservation, of course, but it would be mad, let’s be clear. And, obviously, we’re not going to do it. It’s just cynical chaff. I still use imperial often, but it’s obvious metric measurements are better, simpler, more international and easier to calculate. Easier to teach too. Why on earth would we go back to a Roman system with no electrical units, two scales of volume, two systems of weight, multiple bases etc etc.? It’d be yet another cost for business.
Someone should ask Boris how many pints are in a cubic foot…
Utter tosh! Is this the only benefit of Brexit? If I hadn’t checked, i would have thought it was April 1st!
It’s clear the government is trying desperately to find something to justify leaving the EU. I would have thought they’d be announcing the trade deals we’d secured or the £350m a week for the NHS not reintroducing some antiquated system of measurement that my children and grandchildren won’t understand.
More jingoistic, flag waving tripe.
The two systems have been used together since the start in the building trade and I suspect always will be! Most builders will still request 3m of 6 x 2 timber. (3 metres of 6 inches by 2 inches.) Everyone in the trade fully understands this. It is also interesting to note that since metric was introduced timber lengths have been measured in units – a unit is 300mm, which is 1 foot! Confused? No it’s easy!