LETTER : Imperial defence

From Mr C. S. McMenamin

Sir: What a confused argument Charles Fyffe (Letters, 4 October) makes against the metric system! He claims that metric is at once too simplistic and too difficult to use, and attempts to induce from the fact that 1,000 cc (1 litre) of pure water weighs 1kg that the "centi" litre (1/100th of a litre) and the cubic centimetre should be equal. Fortunately, these arguments (and the majority of others of the same vein being used at the moment) will not stop the rest of this country's population getting on with their daily business, in whatever system of measurement.

The parallels of this change with monetary decimalisation in the early Seventies are many, and just as then it will prove to be a sensible one that makes people's lives easier. In the meantime, may I suggest Mr Fyffe saves his sight and starts to use the centimetre to measure length; it's about two-fifths of an inch.

Yours faithfully,

Conor McMenamin

Brighton

4 October