It is entirely commendable to try to bring down the nation’s alcohol consumption (Pint of no return? Two-thirds measure could boost English health – study, 17 September). Whether reducing the size of the standard beer measure succeeds in achieving this remains to be seen.
What is unaccountable is the proposal to move from a pint measure (20 fluid ounces) to two‑thirds of a pint (13.33 fluid ounces), which is not even a round number in imperial measures. Nor, indeed, does it have a name.
If the new measure were 500 millilitres, it would represent a decrease of about 10% and once and for all remove the anomaly whereby beer is the only liquid still sold in imperial units. Almost everything else, from wine and spirits to washing-up liquid and petrol, is sold in metric, and that of course is the norm overseas – not only in Europe but virtually everywhere else outside the US. Even the Americans do not use the UK’s imperial units – their pint is significantly smaller.
The UK government decided in 1965 to metricate. When almost all other retail products went metric, an exemption was given to the pint, on the grounds that drinkers allegedly had a sentimental affinity to the name. If we are going to abolish the pint, that argument collapses. Surely, this is an opportunity to move the sale of beer into the 21st century.
Dr Peter Burke
Chair, UK Metric Association
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