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.
