On 19 May 2025, the UK concluded a new agreement with the European Union amid cries of betrayal from the pro-Brexit press. While UKMA has no position on UK-EU relations or on this new agreement, it is a case study to show how it is possible to implement policies such as the completion of the Metric Programme, which started in 1965, while resisting attacks from a hostile media.

This new agreement covered the key issues of fishing, farming exports, defence and security, further talks on a cross-border youth experience scheme, passport e-gates and carbon and energy. The government was delivering on its election promise to get a Brexit reset deal to forge closer relations between the UK and the EU. The government released an official statement to say that the agreement will support British businesses, back British jobs, and put more money in people’s pockets and that the package will help make food cheaper, slash red tape, open up access to the EU market and add nearly £9 billion to the UK economy by 2040.

Predictably, various pro-Brexit newspapers criticised the agreement. These were some of the headlines that appeared in these newspapers:

• “Six biggest bombshells in Keir Starmer’s EU-UK Brexit ‘reset’ deal”, Daily Express, 19 May 2025
• “UK-EU reset deal: Globalist Keir Starmer is pushing Britain back into the European Union by stealth, former Brexit party MEP Alex Phillips tells the Mail’s ‘Apocalypse Now?’ podcast”, Daily Mail, 22 May 2025
• “BREXIT BETRAYED Starmer ‘done up like a kipper’ as he agrees EU surrender deal allowing foreign trawlers to plunder UK waters for YEARS”, The Sun, 19 May 2025
• “Starmer trying to ‘kiss goodbye to Brexit’”, Daily Telegraph, 19 May 2025

There were a few days of negative headlines and critical articles in the pro-Brexit press after the agreement was reached with the EU, but the press soon moved on. In the official statement, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer made the case for the agreement. UKMA takes no position on this agreement.

Why can’t the government do the same to conclude the UK’s long drawn-out metrication progress by making the case for metrication and completing the UK’s transition to the metric system? This example shows how to fight against a hostile press successfully while making the case for metrication and getting on with the job.

Today is exactly 150 years since the Metre Convention was signed by 17 nations. This treaty established the use of the metric system internationally and created the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) and the International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM), organizations with different roles, to co-ordinate international efforts to standardize measurements.

The BIPM has grown from the original 17 nations to 64 member states and 37 associate states and economies today. Meanwhile, the metric system has spread to every country in the world. It is hard to imagine a treaty that has had a greater impact on our daily lives than the Metre Convention. The metric system is now used in numerous daily activities including cooking, energy consumption, weather reports, supermarket shopping, sports activities and exercise, DIY and motoring. And this is not a comprehensive list.

One reason for the success of the metric system it is based on nature. The metre was derived from calculation of measurements to determine the distance of the North Pole to the Equator. A metre is ten millionth of that distance. Another reason for the success of the metric system is that it is all based on powers of ten and the use of common prefixes combined with base units.

Various events are being organized to celebrate this important anniversary.

As we once again enter the Celsiheit season, that uniquely British time of year, where temperatures become so warm that some assume that a switch to the larger numbers of the old Fahrenheit scale is required, the BBC has dashed any hope that 2025 might be the year when Fahrenheit is finally consigned to the history books of UK weather forecasting.

BBC TV weather forecast – 2025-05-14

Yesterday’s weather forecast included a large number “25” on the screen, which the presenter unflinchingly pointed at to inform us was “77 Fahrenheit”.

Back in 1962, when the Met Office switched to the Celsius scale for all weather reports, the BBC followed suit with what was presumed would be a gradual phasing out of Fahrenheit. Indeed, all weather map visuals have been in degrees Celsius-only since the 1960s.

However, if this YouTube video is typical of BBC TV weather forecasts at the time, viewers would have had every excuse to have been confused during the initial years of the changeover, with numbers on the screen being in one system, and the presenter speaking about temperatures exclusively in another system.

In fact the changeover was so slow that by the early 1970s, it was clear to outside observers that a long drawn-out period of dual-units was not the way to proceed when switching to new measurement units.

Other Commonwealth countries, that were planning to make the switch at that time, learned from the British experience. In 1972, when Australia switched to the Celsius scale, they elected to change to Celsius on a single day, or M-day – 1 September 1972. Canada also opted to switch to Celsius on a single day – 1 April 1975.

The following extract from an Australian public information leaflet, published in 1972, clearly references the British experience when it talks about “overseas experience”:

“Temperature reports in public advices issued by the Bureau of Meteorology, Australia’s official weather service, will be only in degrees Celsius from September 1.
…
The Bureau does not favour a dual system of publication because overseas experience has revealed that this makes it harder for people to adapt to the new unit.

Some news media may wish to use a dual system for a limited time period, but it is expected this will be discontinued from September 1.

If temperature were expressed in both units every day, the public would find it difficult to learn Celsius.”

Although many, if not most, TV weather forecasts are now thankfully in degrees Celsius-only, over the decades, it has become impossible to watch any weather forecast without a sense of foreboding that at any moment the presenter will break your flow of thought and in effect tell you that the numbers you are looking at are not what they appear.

It seems that in 2025, more than 60 years after the UK’s official switch to the Celsius scale, this tortuous practice is set to continue.

BBC TV weather forecast – 2025-05-14

Having seen the the Mirriam-Webster dictionary definition for the word “gaslighting” – a particularly cruel and drawn-out form of mental tortue, it seems that this word aptly describes what has been going on for the last 60 years and more.

“gaslighting – psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one’s emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator”

• causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts – being told that 16 is 61, and 25 is 77 seems to be a good example.
• usually over an extended period of time – this has been taking place for over 60 years.
• typically leads to confusion – an apt description of the state where visuals have been in Celsius-only for over 60 years, yet temperatures continue to be spoken of in Fahrenheit.
 
References

Australian experience – M-days

Australian experience

Chris Eubank Jr. has reportedly been fined for being “0.05 lb overweight” at the weigh in for tonight’s middleweight boxing match with Conor Benn.

“Eubank defiant after £375,000 fine for being 0.05lb over weight”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/articles/cm259y9l29no

Whilst amateur boxing uses the metric system for weight categories, professional boxing still uses imperial weight categories.

The current professional middleweight boxing weight limit is defined in pounds, and translates to an upper limit of 72.57 kg.

The last time there was an Olympic Games men’s middleweight boxing event, the category was defined using the metric system as 69 kg to 75 kg.

For Chris Eubank Jr., the difference between the two systems has resulted in a fine of £375 000. If the metric classification had been used, he would have had no problem at the weigh in.

https://www.gbboxing.org.uk/overview-of-boxing/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weight_class_(boxing)

The St Cross Centre for the History and Philosophy of Physics (HAPP) is holding a one-day conference on the history of measurement at the Mathematical Institute in Oxford on Saturday 7 June 2025 from 10.30 am – 5.00 pm BST. Participants can register to attend in person or online. Everyone is welcome to attend. Registration to attend this conference is free but booking is required to attend the conference in person or online.

This conference will examine the history of measurement, starting from the ancient world and following the evolution of measuring methodologies and the development of measuring instruments over the eras up to the present day. It will discuss the establishment of the metric system and consider examples of famous experiments across the centuries. The conference will conclude with a philosophical perspective on measurement.

All the details and the weblinks to register for the conference to attend in person or online are given at https://www.stx.ox.ac.uk/event/happ-one-day-conference-measure-for-measure.