The return of the lb
 

Not sure if this is set to be permanent or just for the Jubilee but we may well be seeing the return of imperial measures

this government you give them and inch and they take a mile

They need beating with a yard stick I tell ya

https://metro.co.uk/2022/05/28/boris...ilee-16729733/

Re: The return of the lb
 

It's stupid but also a bit of a gimmick since it's only allowing stores to sell in imperial if they want to do so. Maybe they'll have both. I can't see us moving to imperial for the things which have been metric for so long, too many people have grown up with metric now and it's more intuitive than imperial unless you grew up with the latter.

To be honest I assume it was legal anyway since buying pints in pubs and so on.

Re: The return of the lb
 

It’s difficult to know exactly what can change here … IIRC the changes that occurred around the turn of the millennium banned sales of goods by imperial measure only, with a very few exceptions (alcoholic drink traditionally served by the pint being one of them). You could still put imperial measurements on your price label but you were compelled to also put the metric equivalent. In practice this only really affected greengrocers and other sellers of loose goods as packaged goods had long included both metric and imperial units.

Seeing as anyone can put an imperial measure on their goods if they want, what’s really changing? Are they going to permit removal of the metric measures everyone under 50 was taught at school?

Re: The return of the lb
 

Selling petrol in gallons again would be eye watering - £7.90 per gallon. :shocked:

Re: The return of the lb
 

Where are you paying that, I filled up on the 4th May and paid £8.71 a gallon?

Re: The return of the lb
 

Nice round figure - 8 guineas per gallon…

Re: The return of the lb
 

My local Morrisons.

When I was in my last year at school, I worked at a petrol station, selling it at 75p a gallon.

Re: The return of the lb
 

When I worked at my local Esso garage, 8 gallons was £2:88, a pint of mild in the Spotted Cow was 10p and 10 Cambridge cigarettes ( with Green Shield stamps ) was 12.5p. :erm:

Re: The return of the lb
 

More testiculation*from Boris…. Imperial measurements never really went away.

*from testiculate, to wave one’s arms around whilst talking bo***cks

Re: The return of the lb
 

I'm annoyed.After all the crap in trying to teach metrics instead of imperial along side imperial back in the last century Bobblehead is taking us back to a place of pain.:mad:

Re: The return of the lb
 

Correct. When we first joined the EU, some people refused to display their prices in a different way from before and were eventually prosecuted for it. The law expects traders to use metric measurements, but permits imperial to be used alongside.

With Boris's new proposed measure, traders will be allowed to convert back to imperial, but given the fact you mention, that more recent generations have been taught only metric measurements, they will need to display both now as well if they don't want to confuse half the population.

Result: no change.

Nice one, Boris. Let's get back to levelling up, sorting out the economy and abolishing or changing the EU laws we still have that legitimately restrict trade. That's what will get you re-elected.

Re: The return of the lb
 

Wasn't even the EU, the rules were set when it was the EEC

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_Martyrs

Re: The return of the lb
 

Doesn't matter whether you use inches or centimetres, Johnson doesn't measure up for the job. :D

Re: The return of the lb
 

Just another good old dead cat announcement. Imperial measurements were never banned just as crowns on pint (568ml) glasses were never banned. It's just some nonsense to give some a warm and fuzzy feeling while winding up 'remoaners' and setting off a nice culture war.

SI units and the derived metric system are well and truly here to stay. As others have pointed out, metric has been taught in schools for donkeys years. It also just makes sense - the relationship between different measurements is clear. There is a lot of legacy imperial units used in engineering and there are some fun mish mash measurements so you get 6mm tubing with 1" connectors and the like

Re: The return of the lb
 

but they didn't did they?

For engineering (calculations etc), they definitely went away, but in everyday life........

I still weigh myself in Stones & Pounds

I measure my height in Feet and Inches

I drink pints

I recently bought some land was that measured in acres

My speedo reads mph, signs gives distances in miles.

I measure cold temperatures in Celsius and hot ones in Fahrenheit.

We as a nation are nominally bi-lingual between metric and imperial and happily use both depending on the scenario.

Re: The return of the lb
 

Really? Is this common? All the others I do as well (although weight I tend to use both) but I don't think I've come across people using Fahrenheit much in the U.K?

Re: The return of the lb
 

I think we've just agreed?

Re: The return of the lb
 

TV cooks?

I always use Celsius but that's because I've worked all my life in the industrial instrumentation sector where Celsius is the norm. (Except the USA)

Re: The return of the lb
 

Some recent surveying on who uses what.

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/lifestyl...do-britons-use

Regarding the temperature question

Re: The return of the lb
 

I use metric every where except

• on the road where I use mph but I measure distance in km, we should switch that to metric
• in pub it's pint/half but most pubs don't give a full 568ml of fluid so really it's a big drink or small drink.
• archery as imperial rounds are at yard distances, arrow length is just measured in inches and bow draw weights is in pounds. (Although the mass of equipment is metric but arrows are in grains.)

I like the anglicised Good News Bible as it uses metric measures throughout.

Re: The return of the lb
 

YOU may but there are many youngsters who use metric entirely because that's what my generation and following younger teachers were teaching in school.:rolleyes:

Re: The return of the lb
 

Yes, loads. I've never come across anyone that uses Fahrenheit in winter, it's alway 0 degrees or -5 etc.

But come summer, it's like, "It's going to be well into the 90's today!"

---------- Post added at 11:24 ---------- Previous post was at 11:22 ----------

I was taught only metric in school too.

Re: The return of the lb
 

All of these, except the last one.
I do not use Fahrenheit, hot or cold, its Celsius (well Centigrade actually, I never say 'Celsius').

Oh, and in school, we were taught metric.

Re: The return of the lb
 

Here we go, a useful primer;

https://www.cableforum.uk/images/local/2022/05/21.png

Re: The return of the lb
 

Haha, thats pretty accurate. :)

Re: The return of the lb
 

Even though I would have thought they were American, same with the recipies that keep using 'cups'.

Re: The return of the lb
 

Re: The return of the lb
 

No…

Re: The return of the lb
 

Nice one, jonbxx! :LOL:

Re: The return of the lb
 

I use to do a paper round when I was young and collected money on a Friday evening this was imperial and then decimalisation came in which caused all manner of difficulties especially for the older people e.g. if they gave me a pound note and then I would give change of a 50p, some 10p's and a 5p and a 2p, 1p this really confused them.

Measurements we started to learn metric at school alongside imperial.

When I started my printing apprenticeship (5 years) you had to learn the print measurements of points and picas which converted to imperial exactly along with this terminology of thins, thicks, mids, ems, clumps, furniture, coin keys, 36mo, 4to, 42mo, 8vo (happy days).

Re: The return of the lb
 

I don't think anything material will change. It's just some red meat to whichever small minority of the population still resents that some things are in metric?

Re: The return of the lb
 

Re: The return of the lb
 

The move to metric was on the cards long before we joined the EU. Mainly because it makes a heck of a lot more sense.

Of all the issues facing the country atm this is proof the Govt has totally lost the plot.

Re: The return of the lb
 

We should bring back into common use roods/chains/rods/perches, that'll sort the young uns out.

Re: The return of the lb
 

And Ricketts, TB, Polio, back-street abortions, and other "joys" of the 50s…

Re: The return of the lb
 

respect and discipline? proper sentencing and horrid prisons that might actually act as a deterrent? no snowflakes?

---------- Post added at 11:07 ---------- Previous post was at 11:06 ----------

and a close community

Re: The return of the lb
 

Respect for "your betters"?

"Knowing your place"?

People with mental illness being institutionalised, and approx. 3% of children dying* before their 1st birthday - strange definition of "good old days".

*10% of that now

Re: The return of the lb
 

Old ladies were not targeted for their pensions, kids were not terrorising neighbourhoods vandalising town centres

Good and bad in both then and now

Re: The return of the lb
 

I am sure old ladies were targeted for their money, just in different ways. Greed and con men have existed as long as civilisation itself.

Re: The return of the lb
 

Might as well have Antonin Dvorak's 9th (New World) Symphony on repeat....

Re: The return of the lb
 

Not everything from recent history was great but on balance not everything about modern society is great either.

Re: The return of the lb
 

Agreed

Re: The return of the lb
 

Bring back Woolworths

Re: The return of the lb
 

No way, the pick and mix was like a war zone.

Re: The return of the lb
 

H’mmm. My dad used to talk about people regularly fighting on the streets. That doesn’t happen now, I’m glad to say.

Re: The return of the lb
 

No you just get stabbed or if you're lucky shot.

Re: The return of the lb
 

where do you live OB ? cloud cuckoo land? cuz it is not in the real world like where I live and there are fights around here at least weekly likely even more so

Re: The return of the lb
 

Pretty sure it does.

They also shoot/stab you these days, rather than a prolonged fight.

Re: The return of the lb
 

You don't get in to town much on a Saturday night do you? ;)

Re: The return of the lb
 

It can get a bit tasty there late on when the locals have been on the Pimms all day :shocked:

Re: The return of the lb
 

Kicks off at Ascott occasionally as well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0r97Sb9nlI

Re: The return of the lb
 

Oddly enough, France, home of the metric system still uses pints and pounds (pinte and livre).

"Gabriel Mouton, a church vicar in Lyons, France, is considered by many to be the founding father of the metric system. In 1670, Mouton proposed a decimal system of measurement that French scientists would spend years further refining."

"In 1812, Napoleon abandoned the metric system; although it was still taught in school, he largely let people use whichever measures they liked until it was reinstated in 1840. According to Dr Alder, “It took a span of roughly 100 years before almost all French people started using it.”"

Re: The return of the lb
 

They still use the words pint and pound, but in a similar way to our use of tonne. It’s just a word, and these days it refers to a metric measure (500ml or 500g as the case may be). A metric tonne is 1,000kg, while an imperial (long) ton is 1,016kg.

Re: The return of the lb
 

Is that used informally? In France, I've always seen drinks listed as either 25cl, 33cl, or 50cl.

Re: The return of the lb
 

Yes, it’s informal but the barman knows what you mean. If you ask for une pinte you get a 50cl glass. The words have survived metrication but the measured quantities haven’t. You’re just getting the nearest metric equivalent, which is actually une demi-litre.

Re: The return of the lb
 

Many bars in Paris list "pinte" as the size of glass they will sell.

http://www.leschasseursdeprix.com/pa...as-chers-PARIS

Re: The return of the lb
 

Which is 50cl in France

https://www.findabottle.fr/pinte-et-chope-de-biere/

Re: The return of the lb
 

Is this actually a real plan or just a distraction from the Tory problems? Given the fact that businesses are being crippled by the impact of Brexit, the last thing they need is the additional cost of a dual weights & measures system.

No business owner in their right mind would volunteer to add this to their overheads. This is just a useless bone thrown to their backward looking (older) core voters.

Re: The return of the lb
 

Its got all the hallmarks of a bright Boris idea. He genuinely believes this its a vote winner and a priority in people's lives.
Like him, it will be quietly shelved.

Re: The return of the lb
 

No-one asks for a "50cl beer" they ask for "a pint".

Re: The return of the lb
 

Yes, and that's now just a word in France that people know as a social term for 50cl unless I'm misunderstanding what the bars are dong?

The 'old pint' in France was very different

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pint#Other_pints
I'm not sure what's that's got to do with the Imperial Pint?

Re: The return of the lb
 

Une pinte, actually. And if you do so, you get 50cl. France *has*not* retained imperial measures, its language has simply retained a few of the terms.

Re: The return of the lb
 

Whilst France is "metric" they, as you say, retain some old measures, at least in name, though most have been "metricised" in volume and weight (probably for the taxman). The early troubles were caused by the same, or similar, names actually being different quantities around the country and indeed, Europe wide. That made trade difficult.

My wife had several old French recipe books that mentioned pintes, livres, litrons, demi-quarterons, demiard and chopine amongst others.

The pinte was actually just under a litre, and was 1⁄36 of a cubic pied du roi.

A pinte in Paris is now half of what it was in the rest of the country (do the Parisiens get Paris Weighting Allowance?)

Re: The return of the lb
 

Probably a distraction, but isn't this just part of the 'bonfire of regulations' which the Conservatives promised? They are just sexing it up a bit for the section of the electorate that hates everything EU.

Re: The return of the lb
 

Not exactly the most neutral survey I've ever seen

https://twitter.com/adambienkov/stat...fRY5UszkL7ki2Q

Re: The return of the lb
 

Except that we adopted the metric system in 1965, long before we joined the EU.

Re: The return of the lb
 

Certain parts of it, We also ignored certain parts of it.

We did what was best for us, using our own agency as a sovereign nation.

Great to do what we think is best for us, rather than being told what is best for us………….don’t you think?

Re: The return of the lb
 

And why is returning to archaic nonsensical units and measurements best for us? Or could it possibly be a political dog whistle diversion thing?

Either way it's the policy of a Govt that's totally lost it's way (if it ever had one). Forget inflation, stagnant wages a potential world war, catastrophic climate change, rocketing fuel prices and a collapsing economy. Pounds and ounces is what the people want !

Re: The return
 

We’re not though are we, but you know that.

responsibility of the Bank of England, they’ve failed big time. But it is a western issue.

wages were actually going up an were ahead, until the recent western rise in inflation, but they have put a few hundred quid in everyone’s skyrocket to help out.

I’ve checked all data and I’m pretty sure we didn’t start it, but I have seen that we been at the forefront of support and the Ukraine population and government hold us and Boris in high regard.

well it’s not catastrophic at the moment, nor is it likely to be for several hundred years. But as a nation our drive to meet “net zero” (although unnecessary) is partly what is making the poor in the U.K. poorer. We are investing and powering with renewables well ahead of other more polluting nations at the expense of us.

Can’t have it both ways. The drive against “catastrophic climate change” is what is driving up fuel prices. Burn in the fire of your own making

Re: The return
 

So nothing to do with the sanctions resulting from the invasion of Ukraine, allowing the reduction of gas storage capacity in the UK, allowing nimbyism to triumph over the cheapest form of electricity generation (onshore wind) or giving EDF insufficient notice to have postponed the closure of Sizewell B?

Re: The return
 

Yes, that too. But energy prices were already increased due to the switch to green energy.

---------- Post added at 10:33 ---------- Previous post was at 10:32 ----------

All part of the switch to less polluting fuels.

---------- Post added at 10:35 ---------- Previous post was at 10:33 ----------

You never were someone who valued democracy, were you, Andrew? I seem to recall you wanted to ignore the democratic decision to leave the EU as well.

---------- Post added at 10:42 ---------- Previous post was at 10:35 ----------

While the government did urge a delay, you posted yourself that the company had decided not to delay closure. In any case, surely the decision would have been made to facilitate the move away from reliance on fossil fuels and to address the Ukraine situation, which only became an issue just over 100 days ago.

Re: The return
 

Whoefully incorrect.
But we're off topic so I shall limit my reply to this and your other assertions.

Re: The return
 

The move away from storing large amounts of gas offshore/and or onshore I think was a mistake in regards to removing a shock buffer from global price fluctuations. The war in Ukraine has quickened and exacerbated what was an already increasing trend but it not the cause of the rise in costs.

offshore wind provides more scale, but renewable (certainly wind) is not the answer, it is a very important part of the mix but not the answer The premature closing of coal powered stations and failure to start building new nuclear at least
15years ago - is definitely part of the problem.