THE Sunderland greengrocer, Steve Thoburn, has been making a bit of a song and dance about metric measures.
Graham Watson, Lib Dem MEP for the South West of England, has pointed out that the EU directive does not ban imperial measures, but merely insists that metric measures are displayed. Anyone can continue to use imperial measures as well.
Metric measures were made legal in Victorian times in 1897. The then Conservative foreign affairs spokesman gave his agreement to the EU directive in 1989.
I shall continue to think in pounds and ounces, but my children and grandchildren do not. The world moves on. The people of Sampford Courtney were violently opposed to the bible being available in English rather than Latin. In fact they fought a battle about it in August 1549. Later they have got quite used to it being in English. Some of them have even forgotten that it was in Latin for 1,000 years. Time moves on.
John Matthew
Lopes House
Belstone