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UK Metric Association

British advocacy group for metrication

Summary

British advocacy group for metrication

Field	Value
name	UK Metric Association
image	File:UKMA logo (upright Roman m).jpg
size	200px
abbreviation	UKMA
formation	1999 (Constitution adopted in 2002)
type	Advocacy group
purpose	Promote metrication in the United Kingdom
website	ukma.org.uk

The UK Metric Association, or UKMA, is an advocacy group in the United Kingdom that argues for completion of metrication in the United Kingdom and advocates the use of the metric system among the general public in the UK.

History

UKMA was founded by Chris Keenan in 1999 and formally associated in 2002 as an independent, non-party political, single-issue organisation. Later, an e-mail forum was started for supporters of metrication. In 2005, a website called ThinkMetric to help and encourage the general public to think in metric units was launched. In 2006, a blog called MetricViews was launched.

The current chair of UKMA is Peter Burke, and the secretary is Ronnie Cohen. its patrons are Gavin Esler, Jim Al-Khalili, Lord Kinnock and Lord Taverne.

Campaigns

In July 2004, UKMA published its report, "A Very British Mess", as part of its campaign to end the simultaneous use of imperial and metric measurements and for the Government to complete the switch to metric units. In the foreword, its patron Geoffrey Howe confesses that "I didn’t challenge the decision to abolish the Metrication Board, when I was Chancellor of the Exchequer. I didn’t often run away from difficult decisions - but this is one that I did duck."

In February 2006, UKMA called for the Government to set a date for the conversion of road signs from imperial to metric units.

Opposition

The aims of UKMA contrast with those of the British Weights and Measures Association (BWMA), which opposes what it describes as "compulsory use of the metric system". BWMA also campaigns against what it calls "unlawful metric pedestrian signs". It claims that "hundreds of unlawful metric signs have been converted back to imperial, following letters of complaint by BWMA and its supporters".

References

"About".
(December 2006). "UKMA News". UK Metric Association.
(1 June 2023). "Officers".
(7 August 2022). "Patrons".
(9 July 2004). "Half measures a ' British mess'". WalesOnline.
Kay, John. (8 July 2004). "Measuring up". BBC News.
"A very British Mess". UK Metric Association.
(23 February 2006). "Call for metric road sign switch". BBC News.
Clark, Andrew. (23 February 2006). "Campaign for £80m switch to kilometres". The Guardian.
"BWMA". BWMA.
(23 April 2019). "Grayling orders councils to stop 'bamboozling' pedestrians". Transport Network.
"Defending Imperial Road Signs". BWMA.

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

metrication-in-the-united-kingdom advocacy-groups-in-the-united-kingdom 1999-establishments-in-the-united-kingdom organizations-established-in-1999

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