is this an out of season april fools joke?
UK Engineers raise concerns over proposed switch to imperial measurements
11–20 of 106 posts
Re: UK Engineers raise concerns over proposed switch to imperial measurements
#12What the actual F. That is just insane. Brexit has been such a rolling disaster. It's constantly reminds me why compulsory voting in Australia is the best thing since sliced bread. It's just insane what the British have decided to do to themselves.
Re: UK Engineers raise concerns over proposed switch to imperial measurements
#13Wow, just when you think things couldn't get more stupid. Revert to a clearly inferior and difficult to use measurement system for what? Politics?
The metric system is too "European", and more specifically French for post-Brexit Britain. We need a patriotic system of measurement, not some foreign idea designed to take away our sovereignty.
Re: UK Engineers raise concerns over proposed switch to imperial measurements
#14is this an out of season april fools joke?
Nope, it's a genuine proposal from Jacob Rees-Mogg's department.
Leaving aside that, in his mid-fifties, Mogg is probably too young to have learned imperial units at school ...
Re: UK Engineers raise concerns over proposed switch to imperial measurements
#15Observation as a Canadian: Until the US decides to finally convert (e.g. never), the rest of the anglo-sphere will be forever stuck in an awkward inbetween zone anyways. We supposedly converted to metric in the 70s but it's only ever been half-hearted, as many trades (especially construction) continue to work in imperial measurements, and most people work in an awkward combination of the two.
As Canadians we typically measure our height and weight in ft and lbs. But temperature in celsius and travel distances and speeds in kilometres and km/h. Except for cooking/recipes, where oven temperature is measured in fahrenheit and we have to deal with recipes with cups and ounces and so on. ... But recipes are also often in litres and grams. So...
And most people can think of thermostat or pool/lake water temperatures in fahrenheit as well as celsius.
We're supposed to be metric, but good luck finding a reasonable selection of metric screws/bolts/nuts at the hardware store. Online order.
Really this is all to do with deep integration with the US economy and its own bizarre mostly-imperial-but-metric-where-it's-important.
My poor father was a machinist, and originally was trained in metric Europe (Germany.) He found the whole situation extremely frustrating.
Re: UK Engineers raise concerns over proposed switch to imperial measurements
#16This is distraction and has no chance whatsoever of happening. It's best to ignore it.
That's what a lot of people said/thought about Brexit!
Unfortunately, the more we bury our heads in the sand and ignore things, the more chance they have of actually happening.
Re: UK Engineers raise concerns over proposed switch to imperial measurements
#17Are these people dead set on pushing the UK as far down the global economic ladder as possible?
Re: UK Engineers raise concerns over proposed switch to imperial measurements
#18What next, abandoning the decimal money? Then again, with enough inflation anything less than pound might not be needed.
> abandoning the decimal money
That would serve the already-rich like Jacob Rees-Mogg as it would make it more difficult for the masses to measure the broadening inequality gap.
Perhaps that is the plan, including with Brexit: the currently rich maintain as much power as possible and push the rest as far down as possible (to prevent losing their positions at the top of the hill).
Re: UK Engineers raise concerns over proposed switch to imperial measurements
#19I mean its a silly idea but I don’t see why systems would necessarily need updating if people chose to sell in imperial measurements. 1 - any seller would likely in any case have to list the metric equivalent anyway. 2 - all imperial measurements are now defined by metric measurements anyway. 3 - any company choosing to sell B2B in imperial measurements would likely find itself at a commercial disadvantage, as busine…
The proposal as far as I’m aware requires businesses to also provide imperial units. That at the very least will require labelling changes and to have internal inventory systems to also need support for imperial units. It seems entirely nonsensical.
Re: UK Engineers raise concerns over proposed switch to imperial measurements
#20Just put imperial measurements on consumer goods next to metric and satisfy the brexiteers, no need to change everything.
Sadly this would not satisfy - the point of Brexit isn't to make Brexiteers happy; it's to make Remainers unhappy.