Reintroducing Imperial measures…..

Prescription and dental charges were introduced in 1952 maizie - just saying.

kittylester

Prescription and dental charges were introduced in 1952 maizie - just saying.

OK. But nominal. It was Thatcher who wacked them up by doubling them...

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prescription_charges

Saetana

Nobody is reimposing imperial measures - the government are just removing the EU law that meant people could be prosecuted (and a few were) for using those measures in their businesses. Storm in a teacup. I'm comfortable with either for the most part.

By coincidence, I did a little shopping at my local market today. I noticed that some fruit and veg was being sold by pounds. I've never noticed because I usually buy a certain number of items. Presumably, the stallholder hasn't been prosecuted, so what's the fuss all about?

MaizieD

lemongrove

The pampered generation...the 1950’s ! Don’t make me laugh.

Free education right through to tertiary level, free health care (no prescription charge, no dentistry charges etc). Easy come easy go jobs at reasonable wages. No soaring house prices (but the ones we bought soared in value from the 70s onwards).

I think that's pampered compared with later generations.

The ONS shows that people now 60 and above have done better financially on average than any other cohort over the last ten years (and longer). So laugh away lemongrove, you've been lucky.

growstuff

MaizieD

lemongrove

The pampered generation...the 1950’s ! Don’t make me laugh.

Free education right through to tertiary level, free health care (no prescription charge, no dentistry charges etc). Easy come easy go jobs at reasonable wages. No soaring house prices (but the ones we bought soared in value from the 70s onwards).

I think that's pampered compared with later generations.

The ONS shows that people now 60 and above have done better financially on average than any other cohort over the last ten years (and longer). So laugh away lemongrove, you've been lucky.

growstuff - when you say "cohort" do you mean 480 individuals, or are you using the cohort to mean a group of people?

Maybe a "legion" would be a better grouping, which consists of 10 "cohorts".

This explains it.....

rosie1959

We have never totally embraced metric
Signage for travel is still in miles
Never heard anyone say how much the baby weighed in kilos
I still think in imperial looking at dress lengths I convert to inches
Does it really matter

Does it really matter

No.
As long as people can do the conversion then it matters not a jot.

I remember learning all the weights at school and still weigh myself in stones and pounds, I cook using either as some recipe books are old, but internet recipes are usually metric and my scales have both.

I can buy yarn in 50g or 100g balls, fabric by the metre after I've driven 5 miles to the shops, filling up the car in litres.

On a recent thread about height, I think posters referred to height in feet and inches.

Off to peel 500g of potatoes for dinner!

My feet are size 6 - is that 40?

6 what?
40 what?

It's obviously a load of flim flam to please the Brexiteers, to distract them from the dreadful truth. Sadly, it seems to have worked.

My daughter’s pony was 14.2hh - what’s that in metric?

I also remember a carpenter saying he needed 3 metres of 4x2

I agree about the 50’s lemongrove ...

1. Post-war austerity was characterised by outside lavatories, central heating was rare and many houses were without televisions or running water.

School in 1954
The education system was lauded but
2. Racial discrimination was widespread, with signs saying "No blacks, no dogs, no Irish" commonplace. Tensions boiled over with the Notting Hill riots in 1958.

3. Food rations until 1954. Fruit was a luxury, chicken or sweets a rarity. Queues outside butchers lined the streets. Petrol was rationed in 1956-57.

4. Smog, or peasoupers, were thick and yellow, made worse by coal fires. Some have described the fog as a "yellow wall" outside the front door. Parents gave children scarves to wear over their noses and mouths and street lamps were still gas.

5. Britain had to come to terms with being humiliated in the Suez War and its influence on world events being greatly diminished.

6. Bomb sites littered British streets, while air raid shelters, unexploded bombs, gas masks and seaside defences provided a reminder of the horror that had gone before.

Bombed building in London, 1954
Bombed buildings became playgrounds
7. The Cold War intensified throughout the 50s, with tensions illustrated by the Soviet invasion of Hungary and the McCarthy witch hunts in the US.

8. Sporting humiliation arrived when England's football team lost 6-3 to Hungary at Wembley, the first ever defeat to a non-British team at home.

9. Smoking prevalence among UK men aged 35 to 59 was 80% in 1950, and half of deaths of middle-aged men were caused by tobacco.

10. Sexual expression was frowned upon and even criminalised.
?

Hi Kali2 ?

MayBeMaw

I also remember a carpenter saying he needed 3 metres of 4x2

That reminds me of when DH went down to the local builders' merchants and asked for a couple of 6 foot lengths of 4 by 2 and was told solemnly (and without irony) that they only sold it in metres!!

Mamie

I am in awe of these people who could happily multiply and divide in base 12,14,16 etc. I just used to sit at my desk and cry.
Would you really want your grandchildren chanting pecks, bushels, chains and furlongs from the inside cover of the maths textbook?

Mamie my mother used to say "you eat a peck of dirt before you die"
A peck is about 12lbs or about 5.5kg.

That's a lot of dirt!

I quite enjoyed learning all those old, traditional measurements but I wouldn't use them now. We used to ask for eg a quarter of potatoes, ie a quarter of a stone.

It's a pity if these old measurements are to be forgotten, like forgetting ancient languages.

Urmstongran Tue 21-Sep-21 18:50:46

Urmstongran and lemongrove
Absolutely true!

I remember my father spitting tacks when Harold Macmillan told us that we'd never had it so good!

Free education right through to tertiary level
Not for many.

The privileged few were the only ones who went to university - about 3% as far as I remember.

So many had to leave school and bring home a wage.

Nice to see you posting again Kali2. Have missed your common sense and sensible comments.

Callistemon

^Free education right through to tertiary level^
Not for many.

The privileged few were the only ones who went to university - about 3% as far as I remember.

So many had to leave school and bring home a wage.

Yes, they did, although one advantage of those times was that there was a well-developed network of adult education/evening classes, including the Open University, which widened participation. The percentage who went on to university/polytechnic increased dramatically in the 1960s. It wasn't just the "privileged" who went to university, especially if you were male. Universities were open to everybody who achieved the grades. There were many people who were the first in their families to go to university.

railman

growstuff

MaizieD

lemongrove

The pampered generation...the 1950’s ! Don’t make me laugh.

Free education right through to tertiary level, free health care (no prescription charge, no dentistry charges etc). Easy come easy go jobs at reasonable wages. No soaring house prices (but the ones we bought soared in value from the 70s onwards).

I think that's pampered compared with later generations.

The ONS shows that people now 60 and above have done better financially on average than any other cohort over the last ten years (and longer). So laugh away lemongrove, you've been lucky.

growstuff - when you say "cohort" do you mean 480 individuals, or are you using the cohort to mean a group of people?

Maybe a "legion" would be a better grouping, which consists of 10 "cohorts".

I used the standard dictionary definition:

"a group of people who share a characteristic, usually age".