Category: history

Erasing 1000 years of history

One of the things I’ve noticed in the past couple of years is the appearance of cans of Carlsberg; Guinness and some other beers and lagers, which have been repackaged in larger pint-sized containers.  So when you pour it out, it will reach the top of your glass.  Just as if you were buying it draught.

What makes it legal in the UK to sell beer in pint-size cans is the fact that the 568ml equivalent is also displayed on the can.  Just as a McDonalds quarter pounder doesn’t define its weight but is a trademark.  A McDonalds quarter pounder’s actual legal weight in the UK is a minimum of 113.4 grammes uncooked.  But for me, it will always be quarter pounder.

So why is it that when I buy a 454 gramme jar of strawberry jam, I am not allowed to call it a pound of jam?  It is never labelled as such, even though for all practical purposes, 454 grammes is a pound of jam  The welcome exception is MacKay’s 12-ounce (340 gramme) jars of jam and marmalade, which are labelled in this way.  So why can’t other manufacturers label in the same way?  Selling items in imperial units is not illegal provided that you label the stuff correctly.

The fact Is, that pint cans have never been part of the British tradition because, before metrication, off-sales of beer were in brown pint or quart bottles.  The only notable canned beer which existed before metrication was the Watney’s Party 7 (and the smaller Party 4), which was sold in large cans which you could never open.  And when you did manage to pierce the heavy-duty aluminium, the gaseous contents sprayed everywhere.  From the 1970s onwards, most canned beers were sold in the horrible 440ml size, which doesn’t appear to convert to anything and which continues to be the standard size for most canned beers sold in the UK.  Why 440 ml?

Currently, it is only the British Weights and Measures Association (which appears closely aligned to Brexit and Farage’s Reform Party) which is fighting to preserve use of imperial units and which is fighting a rearguard action against mandated metrication.  But you don’t have to be an ardent Brexiteer or Faragist to regret the erasure of 1000 years of history.  And there is nothing anti-Europe about wanting to preserve our industrial heritage.  And the problem with rearguard actions is that they always fail, unless they buy time for something else to intervene.

Where imperial measurements still reign supreme, are in those parts of the world economy which have been traditionally dominated by the United States.  And no mandated-metrication is ever going to change that. Which is why we buy 15-inch pizzas and eat 15-ounce steaks.  Why we buy our McDonalds Quarter Pounders.  Why we fly at 30,000 feet.  Why heavyweight boxers still weigh themselves in pounds.  And why you might buy a 56-inch TV for your living room.