Commentary on the measurement muddle in the UK
The signposting of the clearance of bridges and other overhead obstructions in the United Kingdom is a mess. Clearances on service station canopies, access to buildings and car parks, motorway construction sites and airside at airports are given in metric units while until 2002 imperial units were used exclusively on road signs. In 2002, the Continue reading "The Bridge Strike Problem"
In May 1968, the Standing Joint Committee on Metrication delivered a landmark report to the Minister of Technology, Anthony Wedgwood Benn. It was a document that captured a moment when Britain stood at a crossroads: whether to continue with the imperial system that had shaped its commercial and cultural life for centuries, or to embrace Continue reading "Change to the Metric System in the United…
Britain has lived with a measurement muddle for generations—yet the solution has been sitting on our shelves since 1965. The Use of SI Units, published by the British Standards Institution, is one of the most quietly influential documents in UK technical history. Far from being a dusty relic, it offers a clear, practical, and forward‑looking Continue reading "The Use of SI Units – Why a…
John Austin reports on the athletics programme for the 2026 Commonwealth Games, which will commence in Glasgow, Scotland on 27 July. National and International Athletics is almost entirely metric. The only imperial measurements in general use are beneath the surface : some shot weights are in whole numbers of pounds and hurdle and steeplechase heights are Continue reading "Commonwealth Games to…
During the late 1960s and 1970s, British industry embarked on one of the most significant technical transitions in its modern history: the move from imperial to metric units. This shift—often described simply as “going metric”—was not a sudden revolution but a carefully staged programme of industrial modernisation. The materials reproduced in the Going Metric: Industry Continue reading "Report on…
Few policy areas reveal the UK’s distinctive relationship with European integration as clearly as measurement. Metrication — a technical, administrative reform everywhere else — became a cultural battleground, a sovereignty symbol and ultimately a microcosm of British exceptionalism in the UK. This article traces how the UK’s wider pattern of exceptionalism inside Europe shaped, distorted,…
In Part 1 of this article, we saw that one of the basic methods by which a digital measuring device operated was the conversion of an analogue signal (often a voltage or an electric current) into a set of digital bits. The number of bits determined the precision with which the device could take a Continue reading "Digital Measuring Devices (Part 2)"
In this two-part series, Martin Vlietstra will be looking at how digitisation is applied to measuring devices: In Part 1, he will examine what “digitisation” is and explain how it is applied to thermometers. In Part 2, he will look at how it is applied to weighing devices. We regularly hear the term “digitisation”. I Continue reading "Digital Measuring Devices (Part 1)"
There is much to be learned from Australia s highly successful 1970s metrication programme. In a previous Metric Views article, we looked at two information leaflets produced by Australia s Metric Conversion Board; Temperature and Pressure go Metric and Motoring goes Metric. Both leaflets were part of intensive public information campaigns in the lead up to M-days Continue reading "Australia s…
John Frewen-Lord tells us about his experiences of living in Cyprus and how they completed metrication successfully, unlike the UK. If any of you watch TV’s ‘A Place in the Sun’ then no doubt you will have seen Cyprus feature fairly regularly as one of the destinations that offer lots of sunshine combined with a Continue reading "Cyprus shows how metrication should be done"