From Associated Press, reported in the antipodes.
---------------------------------------------------------- LONDON: The European Union has abandoned plans to phase out Britain's imperial measures, a decision that will allow feet, inches, pounds, ounces and gallons to coexist with metres, grams and litres.
Some British politicians are calling the move a victory for common sense. The Metric Martyrs, a lobbying group, said on Wednesday that it felt vindicated by years of struggle that began when a trader was convicted in
2001 for refusing to sell bananas by the kilogram."It has been 'people power' that has forced the European Commission and the Government to abandon the enforced metrication program," the head of Metric Martyrs, Neil Herron, said.
"We have saved the pint, the mile, the yard, the foot as well as pounds and ounces."
Britain officially uses the metric system, but imperial measures are still used on many road signs, shown alongside their metric counterparts in the retail industry and used to pour beer in pubs.
EU rules drafted in 1999 would have phased out the imperial system by 2009, but new rules will allow it to live on.
Metric-minded Britons argue that the imperial measurements, which were standardised in 1836, are antiquated, inconsistent, and hurt the British economy.
----------------------------------------------------------- ....and I guess, the "loaf" for sales of bread?