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More Exchanges on Metrication
July 1, 2008 | Leave a Comment
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Letter to:
Mr M Balakrishnan
Trading Standards Manager
Hackney Council
27 June 2008
It is difficult to judge from your reply of June 18 to my letter about the prosecution of Janet Devers how familiar you, and for that matter your council, are with British standards of common sense, proportionality, and the British way of life – of which the use of imperial measures is one.
In view of your comments on page two I am forwarding copies of this letter to a number of interested parties who will be concerned about the nature of the 12 charges Janet Devers faces, and the proportionality involved. You make a particular point in referring to “fraudulent business practices� , which suggests any last vestiges of common sense or judgement have been discarded in this case.
Surely you realise that enforced metrication is, and will remain, one of the most vexatious issues imposed on an unwilling British public by the European Union and it has played a major part in undermining any remaining support for the EU, especially amongst older generations.
Given that the present British government is in such trouble, it is astonishing that they have not instructed you to adopt the French approach to such matters and ignore regulations that don’t suit this country.
Ashley Mote MEP
p.s. I am forwarding a copy of this letter to Ian Pearson MP, the Minister of State for Science and Innovation
Letter to:
Jim Knight MP
Minister of State for Schools and Learners
27 June 2008
Thank you for your letter of 23 June in response to my letter to Ed Balls. Quite what you meant by your second paragraph is unclear. You may wish to check with your member of staff who drafted this reply.
The first sentence of your second paragraph is perfectly clear. However, it raises the question: how is it that so many of the last two generations of schoolchildren know so little about the imperial weights and measures system? Why do they not know?
And if your claims about improving the teaching of this subject are to be believed, how precisely do you intend to ensure not only that this subject is being taught but that it is being taught well and thoroughly.
Letter to:
Ian Pearson MP
Minister of State for Science and Innovation
27 June 2008
Thank you for your letter of 18 June about imperial measures. You mention twice in your third paragraph ‘imperial only equipment’. That was not, and is not, the issue. At the most fundamental level this is an issue of freedom of choice.
As I understand it the Weights and Measures Act 1985 is still the primary law of this country, subject only to the Metrication Amendment of 1994.
You appear to be claiming that the latter “enables consumers to compare the value of goods prior to purchase�. That is demonstrably not true and is shown every day to be not true when millions of shoppers are confused by similar products sold in countless different sizes all defined in grams or litres. The great merit of the imperial system was its essential simplicity.
The notion that we needed metrication to ease the process of price comparison is, and always was, utterly absurd. It was a political decision taken for entirely political purposes and to no practical benefit on the high street.
Surely you realise that enforced metrication is, and will remain, one of the most vexatious issues imposed on an unwilling British public by the European Union. It has played a major part in undermining any remaining support for the EU, especially amongst older generations.
For a government in such trouble as you now are, it is astonishing that you have not adopted the French approach to such matters and instructed local government to ignore regulations that don’t suit us.
Ashley Mote MEP
p.s. I have now received responses from most trading standards departments across the country which make it obvious that the so called co-ordination of their activities by LACORS is largely an illusion.
p.p.s. cc: Letter to Hackney Council
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