I have received news from Mrs Judith Wallace in Newcastle, a member of the North East Regional Committee of the U.K. Independence Party.

She reports that after a sustained campaign of letter-writing, pointing out that a series of metric distance signs north of the River Tyne were illegal, North Tyneside Council agreed to remove them and has erected signs in legal miles and yards instead.

This takes the number of known demetrications of signs in the United Kingdom up to nearly 1,250.

This news will no doubt be welcomed by the U.K. Metric Association, which denounces illegal actions in respect of signage. The signs erected originally by North Tyneside were illegal, i.e. not permitted by authority of Parliament. The U.K. Metric Association complains on its website that "Britain is now the only country in the world which bans metric units on its signs".

T Bennett

All seven members of the UKMA will no doubt need to look into this!

According to BWMA intelligence, the UK Metric Association has five confirmed members and two possibles:

i) Chris Keenan: founder, lives in Gloucestershire and has a beard (keep an eye out, folks!).

Two females seen at the Metric Martyr Appeal Verdict:
ii) First subsequently identified as Roz Denny from a TV bulletin on direct action. Roz is UKMA's press contact and a member of the Food Writers' Guild, a group that advocates metric recipes.
iii) Second lady unknown.

iv) Robin (named on UKMA website)
v) Roddy (named on UKMA website)

A sixth possible member is Anne Attlee of the "Metric Sense Campaign". Anne is also the Metric spokeswoman for the National Federation of Consumer Groups that advocates metric conversion.

Another possible is "Stephen C Armstrong-James", who is the registered owner of the ukmetrication website, and also the owned of the (hijacked!) bwma.co.uk web address.

Do these seven correspond with your seven, SteveH?

Sir Geoffrey Howe, architect of Margaret Thatcher's downfall at a time when she was becoming increasingly resistant to the Eurozealots, is the Patron of the U.K Metrication Association.

Quiz question:

Is the UK Metric Association:

(a) a membership organisation?
(b) a limited company?
(c) an E.U.-funded quango?
(d) a registered charity?

Answer on page 94

'Metrophobe'

My "seven members" jibe was really a p**s take!

I am aware of Chris Keenan - I used to bump into him via the newsgroups via deja. He evidently used to search for words like "metric v imperial" and counter post people. Didn't know he had a beard though!

To "metrophobe" (do you really "fear" metric?):
I believe UKMA is the remnants of the metric board that (i think) was disbanded in the 80's.
The UKMA is, I guess, an "association" but I don't know what that means legally - BWMA could answer that since it is an association too.

I believe Geoffrey (back stabber) Howe is a patron of UKMA but I'm not too sure (it would make sense).

We are not aware that the UKMA has any connections with the Metrication Board. We assume it is an association of people in the same way as BWMA is.

Lord Howe is their patron.

What is an "association" legally? For instance I have a limited company with a registered number and certificate of incorporation. Similarly a charity has a legal registered number and is treated differently in respect to tax etc.

There must have been something that you (BWMA) did to become a legal entity (for example to stop others calling themselves "BWMA" in the same way as I had to choose a company name that didn't exist already).

Just interested!

I'm not aware that there is any regulation or procedure for people wishing to set up an association. It is simply a lawful, free activity.

However, it is in the interest of most associations to "register" themselves with as many public bodies as possible (ie the library, telephone directories, a bank, etc), and to get themselves on mailing lists.

Sometimes, when entering into agreements with other groups, an association may be asked to provide a written constitution, etc. However, this arises out of interaction between private groups, not between groups and the government.

Otherwise, most associations establish themselves simply through their work and networking.

In numerous Continental countries, however, people wishing to set up associations do have to notify the authorities.

Thank you, that answered my question. It seems that becoming an association is fairly "red-tape-free"