clearly not as much as you do with comprehension.
RIP Metric System
- Thread starter LiE
- Start date
clearly not as much as you do with comprehension.
Soldato
Likewise. If there’s not a convenient amount of centimetres when I’m spacing something out, I’ll use the nearest inch.
Man of Honour
English grammar is hard.
Soldato
I understand the point you're making, whereas you don't understand mine. If you did you wouldn't be arguing.
I think you are talking about a requirement and saying it never came in to force. I'd agree it eventually didn't. I was talking about the law that the requirement was part of. There was a law/directive (Directive 71/354/EEC) that had the requirement to remove the Imperial system from being displayed on items.
Have a read at this wiki page as it goes in to the specific names of the directives;
European units of measurement directives - Wikipedia
The directive was replaced by Directive 80/181/EEC and subsequent amendments kept pushing back the requirement date until it was eventually dropped.
I've just read the link you posted yesterday;
The EU did not completely outlaw use of imperial measures in the UK - Full Fact
Claims that the EU forced the UK to adopt the metric system and made the use of imperial measures illegal are not entirely true.
fullfact.org
I agree with everything it says. It's obvious the Bruges group were trying to twist things in to taking an anti-EU position.
"An unrepentant Brexiter" Good God, how ridiculous this is getting...Do you wander the streets wearing a Sandwich board proclaiming "Repent, REPENT Brexiteers, repent to the EU Gods today"?
No. I do however find it worthy of mention that more than 6 years after being a vocal proponent of Brexit, the best justification he could come up with was the long debunked nonsense about EU rules for bananas making trade difficult. Feel free to engage with the relevant point (whether shared international standards are a good or bad thing) if you like.
No, it seems to be Brexiters who have an obsession with that particular conflict.
This is what I'm arguing with, because what you said is wrong and is consistent with anti-EU propaganda, which for some reason, you still think is worth regurgitating.
They are, and always have been. But what we're discussing here is consumers and b2b customers being forced to deal with companies and shops that will only display and use imperial. This would be absolutely idiotic. As you say, the market would correct, through inefficiency and wastage, companies operating on fine margins would go bust. And for what? So a few little Englander greengrocers can have one more "up yours Delors" moment? Anyone who thinks this is good thing should perhaps think about what they would say to the people and families of these business owners and employees (and to the wider population as a whole who would suffer as an aggregate) who through no fault of their own would feel the economic downside.
Considering your antagonism to companies being forced to only use metric (which isn't even a real phenomenon), don't you think it's inconsistent to then champion some businesses and consumers being forced to only use imperial, when dealing with firms that would choose to do so?
No, they weren't. No laws were ever passed in the UK to display imperial measurements and the older directive that you cite predated the UK's accession to the EC. It was replaced with the later directive, but the UK had already begun metrification anyway and the directive was considered to be in line with the UKs own legal path in this regard. Furthermore the UK government ratified it, but then never passed it, at any point, into UK law. It was not a "sneaky law" that only came to light decades later. It was an EU directive, which never came into effect and was subsequently dropped.
At last you're starting to talk some sense on the matter. However, this POV is totally at odds with what you posted earlier.
Soldato
I've never argued against metric being put on items. I agree it would be silly to have a bunch of measurements that nobody else used. I don't support the metric martyrs case either (though I can see how the first post I made on the thread made it sound that way).
I will concede the point you made about the requirement to remove the imperial system never came in to lawful effect.
The issue of EU directives and UK law can be a complex area that as been exploited by both the government, and the anti-EU people of our own establishment.
The OP link in the thread shows the lies that are presented to the public. I think people voted for Boris out of hope. But many I suspect are in despair. I wonder after making the announcement did anything actually happen, or was it more hot air?