UKMA’s Publications

If you are interested in detailed information on the current measurement unit
muddle in the UK and how to fix it then read UKMA’s reports. Either buy the
reports through this website or through your normal book retailer or borrow
them through your lending library.

Two reports are currently available. Click on the links for more information:

A very British mess

Metric signs ahead

A very British mess

Have you ever wondered why Britain's weights and measures are in such a mess? 40 years after Britain decided to adopt the metric system, it still lives with a hodgepodge of metric and imperial.

Have you ever tried to work out petrol consumption when fuel is sold in litres but signposts give distances in miles? How do you compare prices when big supermarkets price per kilo but market traders price per pound? Why are houses designed with metres but listed in estate agents with feet and inches? Why do the media report heights and distances in imperial when our maps are made with metres and kilometres? Why are children educated in metric but given little opportunity to use it?

Why are we in this mess? and whose fault is it? Is it the Brussels Bureaucrats? Or does the blame belong nearer home - with successive British Governments? Above all, what can be done about it?

These questions matter for:

• Consumer protection
• Education
• Health and safety
• Industry and trade
• Transport

Edited by Robin Paice ISBN 0750310146	RRP £12.50	Paperback 210 x 297 mm
"A very British mess" examines how the UK planned a full metric conversion and failed to complete it. The resulting mess causes confusion, undermines the consumer and wastes education. Indeed all shoppers, schoolchildren, motorists and home owners are affected.

This booklet provides:

• An objective analysis of the history behind today's measurement confusion
• An assessment impact of measurement confusion on different aspects of British life
• The case for completing the changeover from imperial to metric
• A cogently argued case for completing metrication this decade
• Full colour illustrations

For more information, please read the synopsis or preview or download the brochure.

Ordering information

You can order a 'A very British mess' by post or online.

By post

Print an order form and send it with a cheque made out to 'UK Metric Association' to the address given.

Via the internet

A special discount of 20% of the recommended retail price is offered for on-line orders. Payment from credit or debit accounts can be made with PayPal

Metric signs ahead

Have you ever tried to work out petrol consumption when fuel is sold in litres
but signposts give distances in miles? Do you wonder why your car handbook
shows dimensions in millimetres while road signs use feet and inches? Why
are maps created using metric units but metric distances are forbidden on
British traffic signs? How have Australia, Canada and Ireland successfully
converted their roads from imperial to metric? Why has Britain failed to do
this? Why are we in this mess? and whose fault is it? Is it the Brussels
Bureaucrats? Or does the blame belong nearer home – with successive
British Governments? Above all, what can be done about it?

Solving Britains road sign mess would benefit:

• Motorists
• Road contractors
• Hikers and cyclists
• Safety
• International trade and tourism

by Robin Paice ISBN 978-0-9552351-0-8	RRP £12.50	Paperback 210 x 297 mm
"Metric signs ahead" looks at the great anomaly of British road signs and speed limits. While much of Britain – including motor manufacturers, road contractors and map-makers - has adopted the modern metric system, roads are still marked in awkward and ancient units.

This report provides:

• An analysis of current measurement confusion on Britain’s roads
• Explanation of why using one modern system of units would benefit
  motorists, road contractors and safety
• A summary of how a changeover to metric could be made efficiently,
  rapidly and safely
• Estimates of the costs of conversion
• Full colour illustrations

For more information, please read the synopsis or preview or download the brochure.

Ordering Information

You can order a 'Metric signs ahead' by post or online.

By post

Print an order form and send it with a cheque made out to 'UK Metric Association' to the address given.

Via the internet

A special discount of 20% of the recommended retail price is offered for on-line orders. Payment from credit or debit accounts can be made with PayPal