Chris, Thanks for the link to the article. It seemed to have something of a pro-metric tilt (or at least not an anti-metric bias!), which I appreciated.
I was curious about the sidebar titled "Metric or Imperial?". The last bullet item says: "Literature and culture - Most authors and TV scriptwriters still use metric, including Harry Potter creator J K Rowling, patron of British Weights and Measures Association." I assume they meant to write "still use imperial". Am I right? Lastly, perhaps the most obvious way of highlighting the speciousness of the arguments of the UKIP and other anti-metric forces is to talk about what their position would be if the USA finally got around to converting to metric. Does anyone in their right mind (even amongst the anti-metric forces) imagine that the UK would (or even could) continue to use imperial measures (particularly given the fact that the UK is already at least "half converted" to metric) in the face of the irresistible influence of American industry, film, books, television shows, etc. coming out all in metric? And if it would be OK for the UK to convert to metric under those circumstances, why not convert now? If those forces think that Brussels is trying to bully them into converting to metric, wouldn't the USA be an even bigger bully (even if an unintentional one) by pushing the UK to complete conversion due to America's powerful influence on the markets and culture? Another way of saying this is that the position of the anti-metric forces is unsustainable -- a rear guard action at best. Keep up the good work, Chris and the rest of the UKMA! Ezra P.S. I noted also the reference in the article to the Irish Republic's planned conversion to metric signage to be completed by the END of 2005. Does the BBC know something we haven't seen reported elsewhere? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Chris KEENAN" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2004 1:25 PM Subject: [USMA:30955] BBC article > See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3934353.stm > > Roz Denny was also interviewed on BBC London. > -- > Chris KEENAN > UK Metric Assoc.: metric.org.uk > >
