One British Icon Saved As Another Faces It’s End

One British icon - the imperial measurements - are to remain, the EU Commissions has graciously allowed:

Europe’s Industry Commissioner Gunter Verheugen said it was time to end a “pointless battle” after decades of wrangling between London and Brussels over pressure to switch to the metric system…
The decision comes after years of disputes between the Government and officials in Brussels over plans to bring in metric units in-line with the rest of the Europe.
The country has long sought to keep its traditional units that had date back to the Middle Ages despite constant attempts by the European Union to change the law…
Britain had been due to go completely metric in 2010 and as of January 1 of that year it would have become illegal for all shops to display the likes of pints, ounces and pounds.
A decree published today however will confirm that imperial measurements of distance and weight will be able to be continued to be used indefinitely. (The Telegraph)

Isn’t that nice? They’ve “decreed” that we can keep our own measurements. Isn’t that nice of them?

But as our Lords and Masters of the European Commission giveth, they also threaten to taketh away:

[T]he country’s last remaining red telephone boxes now face an uncertain future as the European Commission contemplates their role in the age of the mobile phone.
The first red phonebox, the KT, was introduced in London in 1926, and there are now only 13,000 red telephone boxes on Britain’s streets today.
BT is responsible for maintaining the boxes under a “universal services obligation” agreement signed in 1984 which was aimed at ensuring that everyone had access to basic telephone services.
But the company has been calling for a review of the agreement amid claims that public telephone boxes are no longer needed at a time when almost nine in 10 people over the age of 13 own at least one mobile phone…
There is, the Commission says, a need for “a fundamental reflection on the role and concept of universal service in the 21st century.” (The Telegraph)

So they’re letting us keep our own measurements, despite lacking the right to force us to relinquish them. But instead they may cause the end of the red phone box, an icon as quintessentially British as the Routemaster buses [removed by Ken], black cabs, and Big Ben. Even though people have mobile phones, nowadays, it doesn’t mean that the battery won’t run out!

We should keep these icons of Britishness. We should keep our measurements, our currency, our parliament, our passports, and our phone boxes. They are our heritage. Besides, without the phone boxes, where would Superman get changed?