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Daily Mail By Peter Hitchens 31st January 2011 To forget is to betray. That is how I feel when I ponder that it is ten years since poor, brave Steve Thoburn was ordered before an English court for an action that could not possibly be a crime. A market trader who cared nothing for politics, he had sold bananas to a customer in pounds and ounces, rather than in kilograms. And he had grown angry when official busybodies had sought to interfere with this honest private transaction. He had sniffed the sour scent of totalitarianism, and he had been right. Before I met him, I too was angered by efforts to force metric measures on me, but I did not know why. Since then, I have understood. It is all about liberty.
By Daily Mail Reporter Last updated at 10:46 AM on 24th January 2011 It is news to gladden the heart of any metric martyr. Scientists have discovered that the kilogram is struggling with a weight problem. Measurements taken over the past 100 years show that the international prototype – the metal object on which the scientific unit of mass is based – has got lighter. For reasons that remain a mystery, the cylinder of platinum-iridium alloy, which is just under four centimetres tall and wide, may have shed around 50 micrograms, the equivalent to the mass of a small grain of sand. Scientists are now looking for a way to define the unit without referring to a physical object If they are successful, the ‘gold standard’ kilogram, which since 1889 has been triple-locked under two bell jars at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Paris, will follow the prototype metre into history.
BBC News Politics 11 January 2011 The coalition has seen off a rebellion by Conservative MPs over Europe. MP Bill Cash urged colleagues to call for the sovereignty of Parliament to be "reaffirmed in relation to EU law" amid concerns about more transfer of powers. Ministers say the coalition's proposed EU bill provides sufficient safeguards as it requires a referendum before "significant" powers pass to Brussels. Although Mr Cash's amendment was defeated, more than 30 Conservative MPs defied the government by supporting it. The government won the vote, which followed a Commons debate, by 275 votes after Labour abstained.
Sir, Before the election David Cameron said he would repeal the law which made a man who sold a pound of bananas a criminal.David Willetts has recently told us that he will in fact leave the law as it is. Now William Langley's good article on the third of a pint tells us why. Mr Willetts is as keen on EU metrication as anyone.
Michael Plumbe, Chairman, British Weights & Measures Association Hastings, E Sussex
BBC News Politics The coalition has seen off a rebellion by Conservative MPs over Europe. MP Bill Cash urged colleagues to call for the sovereignty of Parliament to be "reaffirmed in relation to EU law" amid concerns about more transfer of powers. Ministers say the coalition's proposed EU bill provides sufficient safeguards as it requires a referendum before "significant" powers pass to Brussels.Although Mr Cash's amendment was defeated, more than 30 Conservative MPs defied the government by supporting it. The government won the vote, which followed a Commons debate, by 275 votes after Labour abstained. But 39 MPs backed the veteran eurosceptic's amendment, the majority of them Conservative.
eGov Monitor By David Lidington MP, Minister for Europe Published Wednesday, 5 January, 2011 - 21:38 David Lidington the Europe Minister discusses the proposed EU Bill and how it looks to protect Parliamentary Sovereignty. The Minister also points out the importance of UK's membership in the European Union. In a speech, some 18 years ago, Lord Denning he impact of the European Communities Act 1972 which are still quoted in polin political arguments today.