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THE MOMENT THE MILE
WAS SAVED
The historic
announcement that
British road signs
would stay in miles,
yards, feet and
inches was made by
Alistair Darling,
Secretary of State
for Transport, at
around 11.30pm on BBC
TV’s ‘Question Time’,
Thursday 23 February
, 2006.. The
programme was
transmitted form
Milton Keynes,
Buckinghamshire.
Here is a report on
the contributions
made by the five
participants to the
programme, which
included the
Secretary of State
for Transport.
Most of the comments
are verbatim.
At the end of this
report are some
quotes from the past
about the
government’s
intention to proceed
with the metrication
of Britain’s 1.5
million road signs.
Questioner from
audience: “Is Neil
Kinnock right in
saying that Britain
should ‘go the full
mile’ in implementing
the metric system on
British road signs
before the 2012
Olympics?
Theresa Villiers,
Conservative MP
“No.
“Neil Kinnock is
wrong.
“This is unnecessary.
“People don’t ant it.
“Miles work perfectly
well.
“It would cost a lot
of money to transfer
all the signs to
metric.
“The United States
manages perfectly
well with the mile.
“You don’t hear
people crying out on
the streets of Milton
Keynes for
metrication”.
Christina Leone:
“The conversion would
cost around £700
million which is a
lot of money.
“We can invest that
better elsewhere,
perhaps to finish off
the Wembley stadium
[a reference to an
earlier discussion
about the failure to
complete Wembley
Football Stadium on
time].
“But it does touch on
the credibility of
the nation.
“We will have to
decide eventually. We
will have to decide
eventually whether we
are one of us or one
of them – until then
we have this rather
‘split’ image, how
long can we maintain
two parallel
systems?”
Art Malik, Film Star
(Jewel in the Crown):
“I keep thinking
about all those
countdown markers at
100-yard intervals on
all our motorways – 3
stripes, then 2
stripes, then 1
stripe.
“Every single one of
those will have to be
uprooted and moved.
Every road sign in
Britain will have to
be changed.
“Why?”
Alistair Darling,
Secretary of State
for Transport
“You know, of all the
many complaints I
receive form members
of the public about
transport, I have had
not one complaint
about our road signs
being in miles.
“The cost would be
around £600 to £700
million, that would
be the cost of
sending a man round
the country painting
out road signs in
miles and putting on
new kilometres signs”
[sic].
Questionmaster, David
Dimbleby:
So what’s got into
Neil Kinnock?
(laughter)
[Short discussion
about Neil Kinnock
where the
questionmaster refers
to Neil Kinnock being
voluble and Alistair
Darling points out
that Lord Howe
(Conservative) is
supporting Lord
Kinnock (Labour)]
Alistair Darling:
“You know, I don’t
buy this argument…I
don’t think people
judge us on what kind
of road signs we
have, whether we have
kilometres or miles
on our signs.
“They judge us on
what we do and what
we are like as a
people. It’s a daft
idea to spend this
sort of money; really
I don’t think it’ll
make a blind bit of
difference to the way
people feel about us.
“You know, I can be
very helpful and tell
you that we’re not
actually going to be
dong it” [metricating
our road signs].
(sustained applause
and loud cheers)
Nigel Farage MEP,
U.K. Independence
Party
“Well, I’ll tell you
one thing, if Neil
Kinnock is in favour
of it, it’s got to be
a bad idea”
(laughter)
[refers to the case
of Steve Thoburn
being given a
criminal record for
selling bananas to an
old lady by the
pound]
“We don’t want to be
harmonised,
homogenised,
pasteurised, and all
turned into the same
people”.
(loud applause)
“On 1 January 2010
it’s going to be a
criminal offence to
give supplementary
indications in pounds
and ounces .Can the
Minister assure us
that he will
endeavour to stop
Europe making this a
criminal offence?
(applause)
Alistair Darling:
I don’t like your
nasty euroscepiticsm
hating everything
that comes from
Europe…we’re getting
used to things like
the kilogram now…
Nigel Farage:
“What could be
nastier than to make
it a crime to buy
goods in pounds from
a grocery store?
(loud applause)
Alistair Darling:
“There is a commons
sense argument about
spending all that
money on road signs,
which would be daft”.
_____________________________________________________________________
WHAT THEY SAID MANY
YEARS AGO:
1999-2001:
Correspondence form
John Prescott,
Secretary of State
for Transport
“We aim to metricate
Britain’s road signs
in 2006, by which
time we estimate that
over 50% of drivers
will have been metric
educated” - John
Prescott, Secretary
of State for
Transport
April 2001
Report in Daily Mail:
“Whitehall Signals
the End of the Road
for the Mile”, by Ray
Massey, Transport
Editor
“Preparations arte
under way to ditch
the mile and replace
it with the
kilometre, government
documents have
revealed. Road signs
will be switched when
half of Britain’s
motorists have been
taught the metric
system, say Transport
Department officials
in letters obtained
by the Daily Mail…The
papers show the
internal Whitehall
debate is about when
- not if - the mile
will go. Experts at
the AA have been told
privately by
Transport Department
officials that they
are waiting for the
Education Department
to tell them when the
target number of
‘metric motorists’
has been reached. AA
Policy expert Paul
Watters said of
conversion: “The
Department for
Education says that
once more than half
the population
understands
kilometres, that‘s
when they’ll do it.
The Department of
Transport are minded
to do it”. BWMA
spokesman John
Gardner said: “These
letters appear to
confirm that metric
signage will be on
the government’s
agenda in or around
2006. There is clear
evidence that the
government is already
gearing up for
‘K-day’ with a
slice-by-slice
approach”.
2002: Newspaper
report: “Metric signs
now ‘inevitable’
Motorway signs in
metric are
‘inevitable’, say
motoring
organisations alarmed
by a Transport
Department ban on
Imperial measures.
The DTI has ordered
civil servants to go
metric for public
business .The AA said
metric road signs
were inevitable
.Policy spokesman
Paul Watters added:
“Kilometres will be
common parlance in a
generation”. A DTI
official said that
the new rules on the
speed camera
locations being in
kilometres and metres
‘would not signal an
immediate end to
miles on road signs’.
August/September 2005
The UK Metric
Association claims -
entirely falsely -
that Britain is
coming under pressure
to convert road signs
to miles.
This is answered
emphatically by
Gunter Verheugen,
European Commissioner
for Enterprise and
Industry, when in an
interview he gave
with Eupolitix.com on
19 September, he said
that he did not
intend to force the
UK to implement
metric measures.
He said: "I am not
pressuring the UK to
go metric. As long as
I am in Brussels I
will not touch the
issue. Full stop...I
personally have a lot
of sympathy for the
pint and for the mile
in the UK .. what is
the problem here for
the internal market.
Really, what is the
problem?”
FINALLY:
Several opinion polls
have been run in the
past few days on
whether British road
signs should be
changed to
kilometres. The
results:
Sky TV -
overewhelming
opposition, no exact
figures
Good Morning (ITV):
3% Yes, 97% No
Daily Express (verbal
report received) -
overwhelming
opposition, said to
be at least 95%
against
AOL News - opposition
at least 6 to 1 when
last viewed
ITV Teletext p. 347,
poll closed after
1300 votes: 4% Yes,
96% No
Report by Tony
Bennett, Secretary,
Active Resistance to
Metrication, Friday
24 February 2006
Tel: 01279 635789
Mobile 07835 716537
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