A Pint Will Remain A Pint

A while back, I posted about the "Metric Martyrs" group in Britain that had scored a victory against the imposition of the metric system in Britain. Had they not continued to force the issue, it would have become illegal to use the old imperial measures like the pint and the pound by 2008. Well, today they are back in the news with a complete victory. The EU will be passing a measure to leave the imperial units in place "until Kingdom come".

Brussels will today give up the fight to make Britain drop pints, pounds and miles.

The right of Britons to use imperial weights and measures will be enshrined in EU law under plans being announced by the European Commission.

Traditional measures will remain legal "until Kingdom come", the Commissioner responsible for the move told the Daily Mail last night.

The decision was hailed as a victory for the "metric martyrs" and campaigners who have refused to accept successive governments' attempts to abolish measurements dating back to the Middle Ages.

But the European Commission said it had acted merely to "get the Government out of a hole" and claimed it never targeted Britain's well-loved imperial system.

A directive published today will be put to the Council of Ministers to be approved by EU member states within the next few months.

It will confirm the UK's right to carry on using non-metric measures such as the pint, the mile, and pounds and ounces.

But shops and traders will have to stick to current rules which require those using Imperial weights and measures to show their equivalents in metric as well.

Good for them.