I think it's foolish to equate metrication with the EU - it's damaged metric
before (tying metric with draconian legislation etc).Cameron has made a point -
through his election leafleting - that he wants to be seen as a friend of
'imperial'.
Similarly when I saw Cameron on the news today he was telling the european
leaders how he's not adopting the euro and never will - which he was very firm
on.
Clegg is a libertarian liberal (although don't tell his party). I suspect his
past approach to the EU was such to not scare his eu-phile wing of his party.
I think that secretly he likes the coalition on this one because he can allow
eurosceptic policy to happen and if there's an issue in the back benchers he
can blame David C. Similarly there are other policies that Dave C can 'use'
the liberals for if things go awry. That's coalition politics for you.
Finally - I don't think that the goings on of the EU and a Eurosceptic British
PM is topicworthy for a USMA based forum but then again I've been guilty of
this in the past. Better stop now then! ;-)
From: j...@frewston.plus.com
To: usma@colostate.edu
Subject: [USMA:47837] a turning point?
Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2010 06:58:13 +0100
>From the BBC website today, 2010 06
17:
"There
was a time when many of Europe's leaders and Eurocrats trembled at the thought
of David Cameron as prime minister. They imagined long painful negotiations
with
an administration determined to roll-back the EU's powers and block mission
creep from Brussels.
So many have been surprised by the
Cameron administration's charm offensive. A good slice of the new cabinet has
already passed through Brussels and have picked up good reviews.
The British approach is to be pragmatic,
active and constructive when they can be, whilst vigorously defending national
interests. One British official said it made a "big impression" when the new
environment secretary Caroline Spelman strode into a meeting speaking fluent
French and German.
...............>>
What the British will argue for is an
extension of the single market into the service sector, energy and the
internet.
They believe in trade liberalisation. They want greater labour market
flexibility. But many of those ideas are in fashion anyway as a sluggish EU
looks to grow itself out of its crisis.
There will be arguments at some
stage. There always are. But, for the time being, Britain is going out of its
way to find allies and to avoid the old headline "Britain isolated in
Europe"."
With a very pro-EU Nick Clegg as Deputy prime Minister, perhaps the UK may
just complete its metric conversion anyway, as part of its 'pragmatic'
approach. Certainly, if Britain is indeed not wanting to appear isolated
in Europe, then any retrenchment into imperial units would fly in the face of
that.
John F-L
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http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/195013117/direct/01/
