Taking back the mile

One of the depressing aspects of life over the past few decades has been the steady replacement of comfortable, familiar British measurements with the confusing and alien metric system. This is often blamed on the EU, but in fact our own government had set the ball rolling many years before we joined.

Fortunately, two bastions of proper measurements have managed to survive. One is pints of beer and milk, and the other, more significantly, is the use of Imperial distances, widths and heights on the roads. While I’m sure there have been plans made in the past to convert these to metric, as has been done in Ireland, the enormous cost and the likely scale of opposition has always put governments off, and realistically it’s very difficult to see it happening now.

Indeed, not only are Imperial distances in miles and yards mandated for official road signs, it is actually illegal to display metric distances. Dual units for width and height restrictions are permitted, but not metric-only signs. However, despite this, in many areas council officials have taken it upon themselves to erect metric signs, even though they must know full well that they contravene the regulations. One can only speculate as to the motivation for this – presumably it arises from a loathing of their country’s heritage and distinctive identity and a desire to elimate all signs of it.

But fortunately help is at hand. As the Daily Mail reports, veteran anti-EU campaigner Derek Norman has formed a campaign group called Active Resistance to Metrication which is dedicated to tackling metric road signs. So far, he claims to have removed over 2,000 of them. Although some may regard this as vandalism, he argues that his actions are legal, provided that he tells councils where he has put the signs, because the signs are in contravention of regulations in the first place and thus constitute illegal obstructions to the highway. So far, this argument has held up in several court cases.

I say more power to his elbow in standing up for this country’s traditions. Any blame should be attached to the council officials who allowed the signs to be erected in the first place. They should be subject to disciplinary action and made to pay the cost of replacement with signs using the correct measurements. A defence of ignorance of the rules simply will not wash.

And hopefully, once we have finally extricated ourselves from the clutches of the EU, we can restore the use of proper traditional British measurements for all everyday purposes, and confine the metric system to its proper domain in the scientific and technical sphere.

It is also disappointing how the National Trust, which is supposedly dedicated to the preservation of Britain’s heritage, has often chosen to erect metric signs at its properties. While these are not bound by government signing regulations, they show a contempt for this country’s traditions, and the Trust should put under pressure to replace them all as soon as possible.

Turn of the tide

When I started this blog, I have to say I saw it as little more than a howl of rage against the dying of the light. I didn’t really see much hope that the inexorable tide of banning and restricting everyday activities and curbing people’s freedom of speech and action could be stemmed. All I could do was to enjoy a touch of Schadenfreude when someone managed to throw a spanner in the works.

However, slowly but surely, the tectonic plates have begun to move. The first serious sign was the rise of UKIP in the opinion polls during 2014, and the two spectacular by-election victories in the Autumn. Then came the Conservative victory in the 2015 General Election. Now, this ushered in a government that in most respects was scarcely better than the Coalition that preceded it, and the election result was desperately disappointing for UKIP in terms of seats, if not votes. But the result confounded the expectations of the pundits and opinion pollsters and, excluding Northern Ireland, the Conservatives and UKIP together won over 50% of the vote, giving the lie to the oft-heard notion that Britain is in some way a “progressive country”. The annihilation of the Liberal Democrats was particularly delicious.

And of course it opened the way for this year’s EU referendum. And what a glorious day that was when, again against all expectations and opinion polls, the people of Britain turned upon the political élite and told them where to stick it. The discomfiture of so many establishment figures and politically correct luvvies was a joy to behold. Yes, the political class are doing everything they can to dilute or block Brexit, but they know that something has been unleashed that cannot be put back into the bottle. There really is a new spirit of hope and optimism in the air.

And then came the US election result earlier this month. Yes, in many ways Donald Trump was a flawed candidate, but it probably needed someone with unconventional appeal to energise parts of the electorate that mainstream politicians could not reach. And it caused worldwide consternation on a scale far beyond Brexit. The wailing and gnashing of teeth was truly wonderful, although the widespread contempt shown for a democratic verdict was distinctly chilling.

And now it’s Europe’s turn. We have the Italian constitutional referendum next month, the Austrian presidential election, then Parliamentary elections in the Netherlands and Germany. Biggest of all is the French Presidential election in April and May. Had I been an American, I’m sure I would have held my nose and voted for Trump, but I’m not sure I could do the same for Marine Le Pen, given her party’s fascist antecedents. However, a victory for her, or even a close defeat, would send a message ringing around the world that ordinary people just weren’t prepared to take it any more. If the establishment politicians won’t listen, then who can blame them for taking their votes elsewhere? People are finding a voice and telling the ruling élites that they’ve had enough of being told how to think and how to live their lives.

The overriding priority has to be combating the global spread of Islamofascism, which poses a truly existential threat to Western civilisation, and about which most of our existing leaders seem to be in complete denial. If they won’t even name the enemy, how can they fight it effectively?

And, now that ordinary people are finding that they can really make a difference, hopefully we can look forward to a rolling back of the tide of lifestyle restrictions, politically correct curbs on freedom of expression, and pandering to minority agendas from cycling to transgenderism at the expense of the majority.