Sections on this initial page:
You are reading the original BWMA site, but we also have another site which is much more up-to-date. After seeing it, you can return to this site for older texts and more background information.
Meanwhile, the other site is at http://www.footrule.org --
BWMA site
Some of the other pages at this main site (including articles from The Yardstick - for a fuller list see below):
The British Weights and Measures Association opposes wanton abandonment of our traditional weights and measures, and asks for support in a campaign of opposition to compulsory metrication.
This opposition is for good reasons: freedom of choice; majority public opinion; avoidance of expense and loss; convenience and practicality; the value of cultural continuity; and preservation of a useful part of our heritage. Individuals should be free to use in trade those units which they prefer and find most convenient, and likewise manufacturers, shops and their customers. There is no justification here for denying freedom of choice.
Metrication is unnecessary and unpopular. Most people do not want these changes. Despite years of metric teaching, the findings of national surveys in the last few years are that the overwhelming majority of people normally think, not in metric units, but in miles, feet, inches, gallons, pints, pounds and ounces, and that they find these units more convenient.
The cost of metrication runs into many hundreds of millions of pounds and, inevitably, it generally has to be passed on to consumers. It is crippling to many small businesses and some specialist suppliers. Small petrol stations have closed as a result. Shops that sold paraffin, or fuel for small boats, have lost business when unable to afford new equipment. We should ask why we are shooting ourselves in the foot like this. We should insist on an answer. The United States, with the world's largest economy, uses the same units of weight and length as we do. Most other countries use our units in addition to metric ones. For example, computer printers all work in inches; Dutch and German plumbers use inches; nearly all aircraft measure altitude in feet. Organ pipes, tape recorder speeds and so on are internationally non-metric. Since British units are so widely used, and are also part of our heritage, children should know them. It is irresponsible of schools not to teach them.
The latest regulations enforcing metrication are being imposed in order to comply with European Union directives and not on account of any desire by the British people. Our wishes, convenience, traditions and culture are being treated with contempt. Parliament, which let the measures through without debate, must be woken up to its responsibility in this matter.
Penalties for not using metric units have been imposed only in the UK and the Irish Republic (not in any other country in the EU) and this discrimination is in breach of the EU's own anti-discrimination rules. The decimal metric system, while superficially easy, is inefficient in several respects. Metric units are artificial, arbitrary, and often too small or too large, especially for everyday purposes. By contrast, British measures embody a wisdom that is too often overlooked in the rush for supposed progress. Traditional units are related to the human scale and the mind's perceptions. They evolved out of generations of experience, and are convenient in size.
The foot of twelve inches, the gallon of eight pints, and the pound of sixteen ounces are, like the year of twelve months, easily and conveniently divided. This divisibility makes them doubly practical. As a result they are widely preferred wherever people are free to choose. Moreover, the technology that took man to the moon was based on customary units since, contrary to metric propaganda, they are fully capable of the most precise use.
Last, but not least, traditional units are part of our language. They are built into our historic buildings and live in our literature. If we abandon them, we lose a valuable heritage, handed down over centuries. Conservationists should oppose cultural vandalism. It is too late to value something when it has gone. To succeed, we need more members. We will win if we show how much serious opposition there is to metrication, so we invite your support now. Members receive a newsletter with details of the campaign to defend our weights and measures, and our journal, The Yardstick with similar as well as more substantial articles. Further details are given below.
Desmond Morris, the famous zoologist, in The Times (supplement) of Friday, 4 May 2001:
"The current buzzword among conservationists is biodiversity. But what about cultural diversity? Who is protecting local customs? My travels have taken me to 23 different countries this year, and it is the ones with unique local traditions that have impressed me most. In so many places these traditions have been diluted by the influx of cheap international imports or by trendy foreign fashions.
But in a few places the locals have resisted stubbornly the move towards global cultural uniformity. And they are much better for it. This does not mean that these pockets of resistance must ignore technological advances. They can enjoy laptops and freezers and sound systems like the rest of the world, but these innovations need not sweep away the centuries of local cuisine, art, music, costume or architecture. It is possible to have the best of both worlds, but this is something that the idiot politicians who squander our money in Brussels simply don't understand.
There are great economic benefits to be gained from a 'United States of Europe', but only if each 'state' respects the customs of others. The idea that an honest English grocer is being treated as a criminal because Brussels will not allow him to mark up his produce in pounds, rather than in some vile metric units, has been enough to turn me against the European Union."
N.B. BWMA takes no view on the European Union as such, either for or against, but Desmond Morris is far from alone in his view of the EU's disrespectful attitude towards British customs such as our weights and measures. The same is true, of course, of recent British governments, which have also shown an inexcusably hostile attitude towards this aspect of cultural diversity. See in this respect the article "Cultural heritage and the double standards of government" (link below) which was published in The Yardstick, no. 10.
The annual subscription is 12 pounds sterling
(though donations are always welcome and much appreciated). Please make your
cheque payable to "British Weights and Measures Association" or simply to "BWMA" and send it with
your name and address to the Hon. Treasurer (see contact details below).
Please mention that you read about the BWMA on this Internet site.
Please do not send a cheque drawn on a non-UK
bank as the charge in Britain for cashing an overseas cheque is
more than half such an amount! If you are outside the U.K. but
interested in joining, or in receiving our main publication The Yardstick, just let us know of your interest, and when we can suggest a suitable means of payment we'll let you
know. We understand that in the United States you can obtain an
international money order in pounds sterling from the US Post Office.
If you can help with addresses of similar organisations in other countries, or with information about use of non-metric measures worldwide, or any with other useful material or contacts, please contact us. We are glad to hear from like-minded individuals and organisations in other countries.
British Weights and Measures Association
For current contact details, please see:
BWMA contact details
The text of a four-page BWMA pamphet, first issued September 2000, and membership form, with quotations from well-known supporters, can be seen here: Foot, Pint & Pound
We have published three booklets, The Questions that Remain Unanswered (a commentary on replies by Ministers and officials to letters from BWMA members; April 1996); "No, Minister!" (an exchange of letters with Government Spokesmen on metrication policy; July 1996), and The great gram scam (October 1999), for the text see below. Miscellaneous items include leaflets, envelope stickers, and a 12" plastic ruler. We sell a sign, saying "ENGLISH SPOKEN HERE", particularly for use by shops defying government's unlawful metric regulations -- for details see From The Yardstick, number 11The great gram scam -- a decade of deceit 1989-1999
The great gram scam -- a decade of deceit 1989-1999
Legal opinion on the metric regulations
There are serious doubts about the lawfulness of the government's metric regulations, as shown by the opinion of a leading barrister. Read the Legal opinion of Michael Shrimpton, barrister
BWMA's campaign on illegal installation of metric road signs: Join the action against metric signage
Our main publication is our journal, The Yardstick, to which anyone may subscribe.
A wide selection of articles from The Yardstick, is available here as follows:
From The Yardstick, number 14 (April 2001)
From The Yardstick, number 13 (January 2001)
From The Yardstick, number 11 (April 2000)
From The Yardstick, number 10 (January 2000)
From The Yardstick, number 9 (August 1999)
From The Yardstick, number 6 (March 1998)
From The Yardstick, number 3 (November 1996)
From The Yardstick, number 2 (April 1996) -- Part A
From The Yardstick, number 2 (April 1996) -- Part B Several collections of shorter items:
From The Yardstick, number 1 (Autumn 1995)
Please note that views expressed in The Yardstick are not necessarily those of the Association
This page, originally created Jan. 1997, was updated Oct. 1997, Dec. 1997, July 1998, 18 & 24 July 1999, 23 January, 6, 8, 10 & 12 February, 24 April, 3 October & 4 November 2000, 9 January, 8 February, 4, 18 (twice), 31 March, 11 & 29 April, 12, 15, 26 May, 4 June, 9 December 2001, 29 September 2005
Please note that, unlike many of those who promote metrication and do so at the public's expense (despite metrication being clearly against the wishes of most members of the public), we work for this campaign in our spare time.