UK Metric Association
The UK Metric Association, or UKMA, is an advocacy group in the United Kingdom that argues for completion of metrication in [the United Kingdom] and advocates the use of the metric system among the general public in the UK.
History
UKMA was founded by Chris Keenan in 1999 and formally associated in 2002 as an independent, non-party political, single-issue organisation. Later, an e-mail forum was started for supporters of metrication. In 2005, a website called ThinkMetric to help and encourage the general public to think in metric units was launched. In 2006, a blog called MetricViews was launched.The current chair of UKMA is Peter Burke, and the secretary is Ronnie Cohen. its patrons are Gavin Esler, Jim Al-Khalili, Lord Kinnock and Lord Taverne.
Campaigns
In July 2004, UKMA published its report, "A Very British Mess", as part of its campaign to end the simultaneous use of imperial and metric measurements and for the Government to complete the switch to metric units. In the foreword, its patron Geoffrey Howe confesses that "I didn’t challenge the decision to abolish the Metrication Board, when I was Chancellor of the Exchequer. I didn’t often run away from difficult decisions - but this is one that I did duck."In February 2006, UKMA called for the Government to set a date for the conversion of road signs from imperial to metric units.