Many thanks indeed, Steve H, for revealing the UKMA's tactics of trying to get parents to write to their MPs calling for the obliteration of British weights and measures.
We regard this as a second salvo in their cmapaign, the first of course being the publication of UKMA's report: 'A Very British Mess', which called on the government to introduce further crimes to try stamp out British weights and measures - and also suggested that the government spend £1 billion 'by early 2007' converting 1.5 million perfectly good and understandable road signs to metric.
Well, the Customary Measures Society is engaged in a fight-back.
On 6 January this year, CMS published its 60-page rebuttal of their report: "Weights and Meassures: Britain's Way Ahead" [contact Tony Bennett 01279 635789].
Now, CMS have produced their own proforma letter for parents to send to MPs - adapted from the UKMA proforma.
Here, then, is ours,
Tony Bennett
_____________________________________________________________________________
The Customary Measures Society Proforma
<your address>
<date>
<your MP’s name> MP
House of Commons
LONDON
SW1A 0AA
Dear <your MP’s name>
<Optional: your title>
I am writing to you to express my concerns about my children’s education and how measurement units are used in this country. I have children/ grandchildren aged <provide details> attending <give details of the schools>.
My children are forced to learn maths, science and other subjects at school using only using metric units. They rarely hear British weights and measures used by teachers.
Yet outside the school environment, it is mostly British weights and measures that are used. Heights are usually given in feet and inches. Children and adults mostly know their weight only in stones and pounds. Babies’ weights are always reckoned in pounds and ounces despite hospital scales which use kilos. Britain’s 1½ million road signs are in miles, yards, feet and inches. People drink pints of beer and eat 12” pizzas, 8oz. Steaks etc. Millions watch football matches where people shoot from 25 yards, shots miss the goal by ‘a couple of feet’ and balls passed to another player that are ‘inch-perfect’. The Harry Potter books - read by virtually all children of reading age upwards in the country - contain thousands of references to weights and measures, all in British weights and measures. The day-to-day language of the British people is British weights and measures. To quote the U.K Metric Association themselves, verbatim: “most of the news media uses Imperial”.
I have no objection to my children becoming familiar with metric units. But I want my children taught British units, so they can apply then in the outside world. I also want my children to know about the system of weights and measures which has been used in this country for three thousand years and which is still used in the United States.
The UK Metric Association is trying to get parents to wrote letters to MPs begging the government to go completely metric. This let is to let you know that my family and I are among the 80% to 90% of British people who want to keep our weights and measures. The extent of support British for British weights and measures is explained in pages 14 to 23 of the Customary Measures Society report, issued January 2005. I strongly urge you to get a copy*.
The UKMA said this in a recent proforma letter they are sending out: “My children learn about converting litres to gallons in class. However nothing is sold by the gallon any more today. There is no point in teaching obsolete units in a maths class. Why not stick to litres?” The answer to that is that 25 million car owners in Britain all know how many miles to the gallon their cars do and make decisions as to which car to buy accordingly. When The Times newspaper in lead story in January last year about rising oil prices chose their headline, it ran: “Drivers face £4 gallon as oil cost soars”.
The UKMA proforma letter also says this: “Obesity is a worry for many children today and the main obesity measure (body mass index) is metric. Yet most information given to children on health uses feet & inches for height and stones & pounds for weight”. This is one of many deliberate lies told by UKMA. The Body Mass Index can just as easily be calculated in British weights and measures. It’s called the ‘Customary Body Mass Index’ and an example of how to calculate it in feet and inches and stones and pounds can be found on page 56 of the CMS report (Appendix 4). The UKMA claim that “The only responsible thing to do is to complete Britain’s changeover to metric as soon as possible”. On the contrary.
We want the government to allow children to learn about the system of weights and measures used today by most children and adults - British or ‘Imperial‘ weights and measures. We want the National Curriculum changed accordingly.
We do not want honest traders being prosecuted as criminals for selling in pounds and ounces.
We do not want the government to waste £1 billion of our hard-earned money ripping down 1½ million road signs to change them to metric.
We want dual labelling of goods like they have in the United States.
We do not want the government - as they have done already - to make it a crime to display the word ‘pound’ and ‘ounce’ in a shop. This, unbelievably, will be the law from 1 January 2010.
We want the government to stick by previous promises to voters that any metrication would be voluntary. We want the government to implement the 12 recommendations in the Customary Measures Society report.
Yours sincerely
<your name>
* The Customary Measures Society Report is available from Mr Tony Bennett, 66 Chippingfield, HARLOW, Essex, CM17 0DJ Tel: 01279 635789