Letter in 'Yorkshire Post', 24 January 2005:
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COMPULSION CONDEMNED
From: Nick Martinek, Briarlyn Road, Huddersfield
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"It would be a good idea if, before rushing into print with their condemnations (Letters, January 10 and 11), Roddy Urquart and John Murray actually read my comment properly.
"What I said was "the imposition of compulsory metrication in the UK has undermined the fabric of our society and our industries". I did not condemn the metric system, per se, but the element of compulsion so beloved of metrication fanatics that they make a criminal out of a market trader for selling a pound of bananas to an old lady.
"At one time the British were renowned for their common sense, their fairness and the light hand of their government, but not any more thanks to such things as the 110,000-plus EU regulations and compulsory metrication.
Presumably not even Messrs Urquart and Murray could believe that metrication has been cost free. It is not just the actual cost of changing product designs, but the entire infrastructure of industry from raw materials to the machinery and equipment that make the finished goods.
"Our exports once enjoyed commonality in the American market (our biggest), but no longer. The cost of metrication has clearly undermined British industry.
"I leave you with a typical vignette of modern Britain. A pensioner, unsure what is permitted anymore, asks for 5lb. of potatoes. The greengrocer, suspecting a trap by the metrication gaulitiers and frightened of being made a criminal, barks at the hapless old man that he must accept them in kilograms. If this does not undermine the fabric of our society, I don't know what does".
- Nick Martinek, Yorkshire
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