This is the Guardian. Over the past couple of weeks you might have heard stories of a potential plan from Boris Johnson's government to bring back Imperial units to UK shops.

The EU introduced a directive back in the year 2000 that meant traders were legally required

to use the metric system, but now the UK's left the EU, is it time to revive Imperial

units once more?

Right now in the UK you can sell products using Imperial units as long as you also list the metric equivalent.

There are a few classically British exceptions of course.

There's pints in the pub, milk, but only on your doorstep and distances on road signs.

But last week the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

launched a consultation on all of this,

where the shop owners should have the choice to sell their products using only imperial measurements

like pounds and ounces. Now this might seem like a desperately

trivial issue and the move has attracted its fair share of criticism.

But it's definitely sparked something in the British psyche.

To be honest, I don't think it's about cats whether dead or alive it's about freedom of choice.

I think it is slightly a stunt.

Frankly if this is the best at the government after several years has come up for

for the benefits of leaving the European Union then it's leaving rather a lot to be desired.

Well, I think it's just allowing a bit of a bit of our national heritage and culture back onto the shop shelf.

In any case, the proposal is about something far bigger than our shopping habits, because the history of the debate around Imperial versus metric tells us a lot about politics and power and it goes far further back

than Boris Johnson. I'm Ensemble the Guardian Science Editor and this is Science Weekly.

James Vincent, you've just written a book beyond measure about the history and science of measurement.

In it you make clear how having control over units

...