GO METRIC OR ELSE

The UK committed to metrification in 1972 when it decided to join the EU. EU bureaucrats are unhappy that the UK has yet to comply:

The European Commission has reminded Britain of its legal requirement to set a date for abolishing the imperial system, or the use of pints, miles and acres.

Following lobbying from unnamed groups, Brussels officials over the past few weeks have made a fresh attempt to get the Brits in line with the rest of Europe in using the metric system, UK media report.

"We are in touch with the UK about how they want to do it", a spokesman for industry commissioner Gunter Verheugen was quoted as saying.

"In legal terms it is clear they have committed themselves to the metric system...now we have to see how to deal with it", he said to the Sunday Times.

One Brit even gave his life for the cause:

In 2001, a market trader named Steven Thoburn lost a widely-reported court battle to continue labelling his bananas in pounds and ounces.

He was nicknamed the Metric Martyr, but died earlier this year of a heart attack, aged just 39.

If the UK doesn't eventually scrap its confusing system of measure it faces legal action in the EU Court of Justice.