British plans to revive the traditional system of imperial measurements, including pounds and ounces, are “complete and utter nonsense” at an intensely difficult time for industry, a leading retail boss has said.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government has proposed changing the law on weights and other measurements in what it says will be a post-Brexit benefit to give companies greater choice over the way they sell their products.
However, the move has angered businesses that are grappling with soaring costs and provoked criticism that the government would rather trade in nostalgia than find solutions to the modern-day problems that are threatening living standards for millions.
“I’ve never heard such nonsense in my life,” Stuart Rose, a veteran retail executive and the chairman of supermarket Asda, told Times Radio. “We have got serious problems in the world and we’re now saying let’s go backwards?”
“It’s complete and utter nonsense,” he added.
A consultation will consider whether vegetables should be sold in pounds only, or in pounds with a less prominent metric equivalent, although the government says businesses will not be forced to do so, meaning there will be no additional costs.
“While we think of our fruit and veg by the pound, the legacy of EU rules means we legally have to sell them by the kilo,” British Undersecretary for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Paul Scully said.
Britain is reviewing thousands of rules after it left the EU in 2020.
While the bloc normally requires members to use the metric system, it allowed Britain, while a member, to use some imperial units alongside metric units.
Speed limits are set in miles per hour, and milk and beer are sold in pints, but most other products such as sugar are sold in grams and kilograms.
Inflation reached a 40-year peak of 9 percent in April and is projected to rise further, while government forecasts last month showed living standards were set to see their biggest fall since records began in the late 1950s.
An endangered baby pygmy hippopotamus that shot to social media stardom in Thailand has become a lucrative source of income for her home zoo, quadrupling its ticket sales, the institution said Thursday. Moo Deng, whose name in Thai means “bouncy pork,” has drawn tens of thousands of visitors to Khao Kheow Open Zoo this month. The two-month-old pygmy hippo went viral on TikTok and Instagram for her cheeky antics, inspiring merchandise, memes and even craft tutorials on how to make crocheted or cake-based Moo Dengs at home. A zoo spokesperson said that ticket sales from the start of September to Wednesday reached almost
‘BARBAROUS ACTS’: The captain of the fishing vessel said that people in checkered clothes beat them with iron bars and that he fell unconscious for about an hour Ten Vietnamese fishers were violently robbed in the South China Sea, state media reported yesterday, with an official saying the attackers came from Chinese-flagged vessels. The men were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), which Taiwan claims, as do Vietnam, China, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. Vietnamese media did not identify the nationalities of the attackers, but Phung Ba Vuong, an official in central Quang Ngai province, told reporters: “They were Chinese, [the boats had] Chinese flags.” Four of the 10-man Vietnamese crew were rushed
CHINESE ICBM: The missile landed near the EEZ of French Polynesia, much to the surprise and concern of the president, who sent a letter of protest to Beijing Fijian President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere called for “respect for our region” and a stop to missile tests in the Pacific Ocean, after China launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, Katonivere recalled the Pacific Ocean’s history as a nuclear weapons testing ground, and noted Wednesday’s rare launch by China of an ICBM. “There was a unilateral test firing of a ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean. We urge respect for our region and call for cessation of such action,” he said. The ICBM, carrying a dummy warhead, was launched by the
As violence between Israel and Hezbollah escalates, Iran is walking a tightrope by supporting Hezbollah without being dragged into a full-blown conflict and playing into its enemy’s hands. With a focus on easing its isolation and reviving its battered economy, Iran is aware that war could complicate efforts to secure relief from crippling sanctions. Cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah, sparked by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year, has intensified, especially after last week’s sabotage on Hezbollah’s communications that killed 39 people. Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon followed, killing hundreds. Hezbollah retaliated with rocket barrages. Despite the surge in
RSS