Boris Johnson’s Move to Bring Back Imperial Units Is Pure Piffle – and Simply Unfathomable

THE GUARDIAN – OPINION: The prime minister is tapping into a history of xenophobia, pseudoscience and fears over lost political sovereignty

‘Touting the “return” of imperial units to shops is just disastrously retrograde.’ Photograph: George Marks/Getty Images
Starting a fight between metric and imperial units of measurement seems, at first, like an odd choice for Boris Johnson. From a political perspective. The move is obviously pure piffle: a dumbshow designed to placate (or at least entertain) the conservative base while distracting and antagonising rivals. But knowingly or not, by reigniting what 19th-century observers once called the “Battle of the Standards”, Johnson has tapped in to a long and wild history of anti-metric feeling that encompasses xenophobia, pseudoscience and fears over lost political sovereignty. » | James Vincent | Tuesday, May 31, 2022

Related articles in German and English here.

Why Britain Is Embracing Pounds and Ounces

Fish for sale at a market in London. | David Azia for The New York Times
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Britain is planning a future that relies on greater usage of its imperial system of weights and measurements.

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Now that Britain has left the E.U., the government is taking steps to return to imperial units, calling it a way to “capitalize on new Brexit freedoms.”

In practice, this will likely mean that shops and market stalls can sell produce labeled in pounds and ounces alone, rather than alongside grams and kilograms.

While some call it a Brexit victory, others question the focus on measurements when Britain is grappling with broader issues, including a fragile economic recovery. » | Jenny Goss, Reporting from London | Monday, September 27, 2021

Verwandter Artikel auf Deutsch:

Zurück zu Pfund und Unze: Grossbritannien sucht die Brexit-Dividende und droht, sich zu verrennen »

This is yet another example of the idiocy of BoJo and his band of merry jesters! – © Mark