I've now read the entire UKMA Report: 'A Very British Mess'. I hope to post more of it, with comment, in due course.

It does have its hilarious moments, as well as its more sinister side, calling as it does - in the most extreme way - for the total obliteration of customary units in Britain no later than the end of 2009.

I especially enjoyed this extract on pp. 32-3:

"Although a number of surveys have investigated public opinion on the metric changeover, these have largely been commissioned by organisations which are trying to obstruct progress. The result of such biased surveys [I hear that MORI and ICM are going to sue - ed.] must therefore be treated with caution. However, it is probably true that there is widespead reluctance by many British people to adopt the metric system for everyday use [well, they're not wrong there - ed.].

"The depth of this resistance has not been researched, but the reasons are likely to include the following:

......

(f) people feel *embarrassed* [emphasis in original - ed.] at using metric units in everyday life since they fear being conspicuous and inviting ridicule

(g) public ignorance has been *exploited* by populist politicians and some tabloid newspapers to stir up resistance - for example, by portraying market traders as 'martyrs' [see Note below - ed.]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HISTORICAL NOTE: The term 'martyr' to denote market traders resisting compulsory metrication was first coined by a leading pro-metric Trading Standards Officer, Chris Howell, as spokesman for the main local government trading standards group, LACOTS. He was quoted on 11 November 1999 in the 'Daily Telegraph' as saying: "If any traders resist and try to become martyrs, they will pay a heavy price". Given what happened to greengrocer Steve Thoburn, he was perhaps proved correct. It was therefore from Chris Howells' own lips that the U.K. Independence Party decided in the first week of January 2000 to join battle with the forces of compulsory metrication by opening a bank account called 'The UKIP Metric Maryrs Fund'. The rest, as they say, is history

Thanks for the Chris Howell quote; been after it for ages to add to his entry on the Metric Culprits pages (just over half way down): http://www.bwmaonline.com/Metric%20Culprits.htm

From the UKMA Report: "A Very Britsh Mess":

Para 5.11: "Other European Union States are quite content for the UK to be disadvantaged by trying to cope with two systems [MEMO to UKMA: metric Germany's unemployment is currently 5 million]

Page 12 - A UKMA Lament: "Metric-only measuring tapes are very hard to obtain in the U.K. The commonly-available dual tapes have Imperial on top and metric on the bottom, making it awkward to use the metric edge [NOTE: The UKMA would like to prohibit such tapes from being manufactured]

From Lord Howe's Foreword: "British weights and measures are in a mess...and this muddle does matter. It increases costs, confuses shoppers, leads to serious misunderstandings, causes accidents...and, quite bluntly, puts us all to shame" [Er, who started this 'muddle' off in the first place?]

From the 'Executive Summary': "...many imperial relics remain e.g. in road signs, football commentaries..."

Para 3.5 (g) "...much teaching of metric to schoolchildren is wasted since they have little opportunity to practise their skills outside school"

Para. 4.15: "...much of the adult population, both young and old, has no ability to think or work in metric units. Moreover, as the younger generation has had little or no education in imperial units, we have as a nation allowed ourselves to become almost innumerate"

Para. 5.18: "..unfortunate market traders have naively allowed themselves to be used for a politcial stunt" [tell that to Neil Herron!]

Para 7.3: Another UKMA Whinge/Lament: "The Department of Health's website encourages us to eat a 'two inch piece of cucumber' as part of a healthy diet"

Para 7.5: "The Government should set a good example and require all bodies to whom it makes grants and loans, including charities, to work exclusively in metric units" [there's true charity for you! - SCENE IN OXFAM CHARITY SHOP: "Ah yes, Mrs Jones, that jacket is a size 109, no I'm awfully sorry, under the 2006 Metrication Regulations I can't tell you what that is in inches and I've ripped out the size label so you can't see it - ha! ha!"]

Para 7.18: "UKMA calls upon the Government without further delay to announce the date when the U.K.'s road signage will be converted to metric units...early 2007 would be a reasonable and achievable target"

Para 7.21: "The erection of further signs giving 'm' as a symbol for 'mile' should be prohibited with immediate effect" ["Ah, Mr Darling, better amend the Traffic Signs Regulations 2002, then. A special session of Parliament will be necessary to consider amending Schedule 7 Part X: Motorway Signs, so as to ban the 'm' from further use to indicate the distance to the next Service Station"]

Paras 7.27 and 7.28 (Another UKMA Lament): "We particularly deplore the practice of giving cooler temperatures in degrees Celcius and hot temperatures in degrees Fahrenheit. This is sensational reporting...the Government should take the lead and make it mandatory for publicly-funded bodies to use exclusively metric units in weather reports and forecasts, including wind speeds in kilometres per hour..."

Para 7.33: "The UKMA recommends that the NHS should carry out a short programme of public education aimed at enabling patients to understand and then remember their body size and weight in metric measures. This could include, for example, issuing each patient with a durable card containing their height in metres and their weight in kilograms. This would enable people to calculate their body mass index, thereby assisting in the campaign against obesity [and bulimia? - ed.] ["Sorry, Doctor, I don't think we can afford that dialysis machine just yet, only the Government wants us to issue all these durable metric cards - I think there's around 450,000 people in our catchment area - does that include children, by the way?"]

A TRIBUTE TO BWMA:

Para 5.15: "The failure of successive governments to take responsibility for and to justify the metrication programme has enabled the opposition to take root and become organised"

AND FINALLY:

From the 'Executive Summary: "UKMA believes that, given full and rapid commitment from the Government, the U.K. could be a fully metric country by the end of 2009 or earlier"


[to be continued]

All the above demonstrates that the whole report goes straight over the top of the head of Mr Bennett.

Stan, if you have understood the report so much better than Mr. Bennet, why have you sat in silence while he has posted a thorough analysis?

...because it's easier to tell people that they're wrong.


"I hear that MORI and ICM are going to sue"

...is this true? Or is it "Bennet-humour"?

"Para 3.5 (g) "...much teaching of metric to schoolchildren is wasted since they have little opportunity to practise their skills outside school"

...Oh REALLY? In that case I wonder if the UKMA and its members could stop telling everyone that the only non-metric countries in the world are The US, Myanmarr and Burma. Surely this is an admittion of quite the opposite of this statement.

"Para 7.5: "The Government should set a good example and require all bodies to whom it makes grants and loans, including charities, to work exclusively in metric units" "

...God, that is OBSCENE! What next? Should they suggest the govt reduce benefits and pensions to those people who do not favour the Euro?

erm, Myanmar ***IS*** Burma. Burma is what people like me call it- people who still call the second Congo (there are two in Africa) Zaire.

But yes, I take your point (the nations stated as non-metric are the USA, Liberia and Burma)

<<<Burma is what people like me call it- people who still call the second Congo (there are two in Africa) Zaire.>>>

People like me?
Is that people who refuse to move with the times?

"Liberia" - yes thats what I meant.

I do hate that underlyingly racist message that these people put out.

You can tell its designed to say - only three countries use imperial, two of which are 3rd world non developed backward countries and the US - as if to make out that the US is in the same camp.

OF course what they don't say is that the UK, Ireland, The carribean, Canada etc etc etc are all defintely NOT metric countries.

Like the US they are not Imperial/USC countries either because both systems get used to a great degree.

BTW I could have been cheeky there and said "2 of which are backward corrupt countries and also Burma" but then I would fear getting into the same camp as the absentee!

Andy, people like me as in people who can't be bothered to change habits in relation to naming countries when these countries were renamed for poor reasons. Too much effort to change the way my mind is. I bet you refer to Ayer's rock as ungamungabunga or whatever it is called in Aboriginal dialects (likewise with Everest).


*note, the native names for these thigns usually are not special, anyway, and mean somethign to the effect of "big red rock".








DISCLAIMER: THIS POST IS LADEN WITH IRONY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<<
Stan, if you have understood the report so much better than Mr. Bennet, why have you sat in silence while he has posted a thorough analysis?
>>

Analysis? I call it knit picking.

e.g.

<<
Para 7.33: "The UKMA recommends that the NHS should carry out a short programme of public education aimed at enabling patients to understand and then remember their body size and weight in metric measures. This could include, for example, issuing each patient with a durable card containing their height in metres and their weight in kilograms. This would enable people to calculate their body mass index, thereby assisting in the campaign against obesity [and bulimia? - ed.] ["Sorry, Doctor, I don't think we can afford that dialysis machine just yet, only the Government wants us to issue all these durable metric cards - I think there's around 450,000 people in our catchment area - does that include children, by the way?"]
>>

Tony Bennett makes his figures up as he goes along. Maybe we should consider scrapping organ donor cards for the same reason.

Obesity has been identified as one of the single biggest causes of heart disease, diabetes etc. All of which costs the NHS and takes money away from treatments for diseases like kidney failure.

He may disagree with the effectiveness of the proposal but to dismiss it in such a cavalier fashion is nothing more than hypocrisy.

If the ringleader of ARM is so concerned about wasting public money then perhaps he and his followers should find a more worthy cause to raise money for.

re (Stan): "Tony Bennett makes his figures up as he goes along. Maybe we should consider scrapping organ donor cards for the same reason.

Obesity has been identified as one of the single biggest causes of heart disease, diabetes etc. All of which costs the NHS and takes money away from treatments for diseases like kidney failure".

REPLY:

I understand that the following question has been set for next year's G.C.S.E. 'Community and Citizenship' Paper:

"Metric Body Mass Index cards play just as vital a role in combating obesity as Organ Donor Cards do for organ transplants" (Stan, 2004). Discuss

<<<Andy, people like me as in people who can't be bothered to change habits in relation to naming countries when these countries were renamed for poor reasons. Too much effort to change the way my mind is. I bet you refer to Ayer's rock as ungamungabunga or whatever it is called in Aboriginal dialects (likewise with Everest).>>>

Whatever the reasons for the change of name I fail to see the point in stubbornly refusing to use the new name. Much as I fail to see the point in accepting a new and improved system of measurement.

Yes I do try to refer to Ayers Rock as Uluru - the name was changed for good reason. It is a sacred place for the aboriginal people and naming it after a British explorer who "discovered" it thousadns of years after they did was considered offensive.

I find the situation of the indigenous people of Australia being treated as second class citizens for decades just so that Brian and Sheila could turn the whole continent into one big Essex quite appalling.

Sorry to any Essex people on this board.

"Whatever the reasons for the change of name I fail to see the point in stubbornly refusing to use the new name. Much as I fail to see the point in accepting a new and improved system of measurement."

There is nothign stubborn about it, I just cannot be bothered to chnange. Eventually I will.


"
Yes I do try to refer to Ayers Rock as Uluru - the name was changed for good reason. It is a sacred place for the aboriginal people and naming it after a British explorer who "discovered" it thousadns of years after they did was considered offensive."

Well, you can't argue with that. That is to say that I disagree, but I won't argue as it would be for nothing. Just consider this- because us Westerners call it ayer's rock does not mean the aboriginies haven't continued to call it uluru anyway- just because we call it one thing does not mean they can't have another name for it. Or are you suggesting that calling the city "Florence" is also offensive as it should always be given the proper Italian name of Fiorentina?

Above post by me.

Bryan Parry wrote

<<
Or are you suggesting that calling the city "Florence" is also offensive as it should always be given the proper Italian name of Fiorentina?
>>

Actually it is Firenze.

Also, you might like to visit http://www.comune.firenze.it/

You may want to stop and ask yourself this. What is the point of a name?

It is to identify the place. It is needed so that other people know which place you are referring to.
As long as it serves that purpose, modifying it is only going to cause confusion. When most people see a name, they don't think of some explorer, politician, donor, or whatever So I don't see the sense in changing the name of anything for political reasons.

Re: UKMA Report - A Rich Source of Hilarity July 16 2004, 8:40 AM

Bud:
Stan, if you have understood the report so much better than Mr. Bennet, why have you sat in silence while he has posted a thorough analysis?

metre:
Fancy calling TB's mishmash of fact and fantasy a thorough analysis?

>>>>>>
Bryan Parry wrote

<<
Or are you suggesting that calling the city "Florence" is also offensive as it should always be given the proper Italian name of Fiorentina?
>>

Actually it is Firenze.

Also, you might like to visit http://www.comune.firenze.it/
<<<<<<



I notice that you haven't actually addressed my point here.

You know, no one is convinced by your trolling antics, eric.


By the way, I agree with Bud- when I think of ayer's rock, I think of this majestic incredible red monster rising from this plain in Australia. I think of its dramatic beauty and its power to behold... I do not think of the facts of this man I know next to nothing about.

Pure and simple.

Likewise, the racist word beginning with 'n' only comes from the latin languages' word for black.... so why is it offensive? It has acquired meaning through history, that is why. Question 1: do you suggest Portuguese and Spanish people change the word for that colour so as to avoid causing offence? Question 2: Do you consider that word an offensive one? If you answer 'yes' to Q 2, and therefore accept that meanings of words change (like every school child who studies Shakespeare accepts), then you must also accept that "Ayer's rock" only causes offence to a few wet-eared whinging so-called liberals, and that to the aboriginies who refer to it as uluru, it is, has been, and always will be uluru. To the rest of us who know what the hell 'Ayer's rock' means, there is no reason to change.

OK, which would you use:

Antwerp
Antwerpen
Anvers?

Look what I found on an Australian web page about Ayer's Rock / Uluru:

"It is the world's largest monolith rising 318m above the desert floor with a circumference of 8 km. [...] The Rock is arkose, a course-grained sandstone rich in feldspar at least 2.5 km thick. [...] It extends down over 3 and a half miles beneath the surface."

Any comments ?

You will certainly anger eric with that one, Conrad!

Personally it just shows what I (and most australians ) already know - which is that when it's convenience that counts they will use imperial - simply because they can.

I work in North London and here we have many contract based visiting australians - they say exactly the same thing (and no, they're not "granny", martin!).

I actually asked - why do you still use the foot? To which the response was "why the hell not? its a handy size - like a foot rule". I was looked at as if to say "what an odd question" - but then I'd forgot - you can only get away with that sort of stuff on bulletin boards like this without being looked at in an odd way!