Category: culture

Uncategorized, culture

Like Old Soldiers – Imperial Measurements Will Never Die

bruceandholly
Photo by Hampton Lamoureux on Pexels.com

Like old soldiers, our ancient system of Imperial measurements has been fading away since the 1970s. But will they ever die? I’m not going to bet on it.

The mandating away of our 1000-year-old system of measurements has always been in fits and starts. It started with a push in the early ’70s before stalling in the ’80s and ’90s until it became illegal in the Millennium year to sell loose goods in pounds and ounces or equivalent linear measures. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t sell you a pound of apples, so long as I measure them out on metric scales and mark them as 454 grammes. There is also nothing to stop me buying a pound of jam (sorry 454 grammes) from my local supermarket, just so long as I don’t call it a pound of jam.

It’s also strange that whilst we cherish other parts of our ancient heritage, like sea shanties or steam engines, it’s somehow ‘uncool’ to talk about feet and inches or gallons. As if it’s something only old people do. And of course editorial policy now dictates that all UK news and weather has to be delivered in metric terms. So how long do you think that it’s going to be before imperial measurements fade out completely from our language? Here is some food for thought.

The rationale for metrification has always been that Britain carries out most of its trade with Europe and therefore has to provide manufactured goods to a metric specification. But isn’t that also true for America, the world’s largest economy, if it wants to trade with Europe? Yet Americans remain wedded to US Customary Units which, with some variations, follows British Imperial units. It’s why if I step out of Orlando Airport I can buy my quarter pound of fudge and eat it in 90° heat whilst stroking an alligator. It’s also why it will always take 9 million pounds of thrust to launch a NASA moon rocket, never 40 Mega Newtons. And here are a few more morsels for you to digest.

  • Every time you switch on your 56-in wide screen to watch an American movie or documentary you are immersed in another world of feet and inches, pounds and ounces and miles. Never kilometers.
  • Whilst American Tech dominates the world, US Customary Units will always remain supreme. Even the AI on your computer.
  • Have you noticed the way that Americanisms are creeping back into our language. Like corporate counsel instead of company solicitor? Many of these are Old English words like ‘attorney’ which traveled across the Atlantic two centuries ago but are now making a reappearance, including some UK firms now styling themselves ‘Attorneys at Law’. How cool is that?
  • And remember that it will only take one UK broadcaster to change its editorial policy.

Just one other thing. There is one part of our culture which has never been metricated. Look at any clock face and you will see an ancient system of measurement dating back to the Babylonians. Likewise the 360° in a circle.

culture, Uncategorized

Glastonbury 2025 – too much of the same old

bruceandholly
Photo by Wendy Wei on Pexels.com

We talk a lot about diversity. But when it comes to popular music, there seems to be none. This year’s Glastonbury Festival looks to me like too much of the same-old. When I switched on my television, the first act I saw was a slightly overweight young lady singing and dancing in a leotard. The audience loved it. So perhaps it was just me.

Don’t get me wrong. There were a couple of acts I did enjoy watching, like the two rap singers and Gracie Abrams, an interesting artist who I hadn’t seen before. Then it was back to the same old. Look! I want to be entertained. Not listen to someone giving me a message.

Then there are the headliners. Usually bands I’ve never heard of. That’s not to say that there are some artists whom I would gladly make time to watch. Like Dua Lipa, Blondie or Robbie Williams, who appeared a year or two back. This year I believe it’s Rod Stewart, whom I last saw live at the 1973 Weeley Pop Festival. So maybe I’ll spend an hour watching Rod

crime, culture, religion, sex

The Hendrix-Joplin Community – If you join, you will never escape

bruceandholly

After 35 years of writing nonfiction, this is my first fiction book. The idea arose from the massive geopolitical changes since Trump took office just over 100 days ago. In writing the book, I have assumed that everything Trump says he’s going to do, actually happens. So the Gulf of Mexico is now the Gulf of America. Greenland and Canada are now America’s 51st and 52nd States. Just for good measure, I have also chucked in the former UK, now New Alaska, as America’s 53rd State, in return for signing away what remains of its oil, gas and mineral assets. It really was a no-brainer.

Caught between tariffs from both the U.S. and Europe. Having outsourced all of its manufacturing to China, and having closed down what remained of its industrial landscape, the former UK was no longer economically viable as a nation-state. Add to that Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from NATO and the Ukraine-style neutrality pact offered to former NATO members in its place.

Don’t worry about climate change. That has already happened. New Alaska is now a silent snow-scape punctuated only by the distant rumble of the extraction plant.

The story focuses on a Waco style cult church, which you can join but never leave. A charismatic hippie pastor who doesn’t only want your money. He also wants access to your wife. Yes – there really are communities like that. But it all turns to bloody murder when someone steals the source of his power.

business, culture, London, society

Post Office Blues

bruceandholly

Earlier this week I took delivery of a letter-scale. It joins my laser printer as well as my scanner; computer monitor; headphones; wired mouse and keyboard. I bought it because I just can’t be bothered to stand in line at our local sub post office behind a long queue of people spilling out of the door and only one person serving. It’s never used to be like that. There were always at least two people behind the counter and the queue moved quickly. Not anymore. And I also read in the news of plans by the post office to close its remaining crown post offices in city centres

I had a letter to post. It was not valuable. It did not require a signature. But it was bulky because it contained a book. So I went to a couple of local sub post offices because I wanted to hand it over the counter and pay the correct postage. In the end, I gave up. So it sat on the shelf for a week whilst I decided what to do with it. Anyway, the scale arrived and I was able to calculate the postage myself and put on the required number of stamps and drop it into the nearest pillar box. Job done.

I had thought about trying the post office’s advertised door-collection service. But I didn’t fancy waiting indoors until the postman arrived. Though maybe I’ll try using it if I have a recorded delivery letter to post.

The long and short of it is that I won’t be going to my local post office anytime soon. In fact, if things carry on as they are, I’m sure that the next official announcement will be the closure of the remaining local sub post offices.

Like everything else in the UK, it’s all gone down the pan. And after the scapegoating Horizon computer scandal, who would want to be a sub postmaster?

crime, culture, Law, Uncategorized

1920’s Prohibition Revisited

bruceandholly
Photo by ROMAN ODINTSOV on Pexels.com

Haven’t we learned anything from 1920s prohibition? When stupid politicians voted to ban alcohol consumption across the United States, and in so doing, created the model for organised crime, which still exists today, and lives on In the drug cartels of South America. So shouldn’t we be de-criminalising instead of criminalising otherwise lawful social activity? But here we go again, with Starmer’s plan to ban tobacco smoking in pub gardens and parks, where it does not affect anyone except the smoker.

Sunak started all of this nonsense with his talk about raising the smoking age every year, so that generations going forward will never be able to legally smoke. He did it to take away attention from the housing and cost of living crisis which his government had created.So are we going to see police officers frisking down young people, just in case they are hiding cigarettes? That’s going to be great for community relations! Now Starmer has picked up the reins.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a smoker. But I don’t like to see anyone being put out of work just because someone wants to make a political point. Nor do I wish to see the creation of a new criminal underground. Haven’t we got enough criminals already? Or police chasing round after kids and pub- smokers, when they should be catching burglars and shoplifters. If Starmer wants to ban something, he should ban online gambling.That causes much more psychological damage and addiction. As well as family breakups.But no one seems bothered about that. In fact, I’d guess that if you’ve got the wit and the know-how, anyone could start up a gambling platform from their own back bedroom.You wouldn’t need to employ anyone. And you wouldn’t need to rent any premises.You just pay for the software and the marketing.Then sit back and watch the cash roll in. It almost seems too easy.