Europe Ends 40-Year Fight Against Pints, Miles

Europe unlocked horns with the UK today, abandoning its fight to ban Brits who still sell by the pound, the Times reports. Calling the campaign a “pointless battle,” an EU official conceded that British use of imperial measurements did not interfere with trade; in fact old-fashioned inches and pounds may help ease business with the US.

The UK’s “Metric Martyrs” applauded the decision, which comes 6 years after one grocer was convicted of dealing in bananas by the pound. “At last someone has exercised an ounce of commonsense but the disgrace is that it has had to come from Brussels and not Westminster,” said the Martyrs’ director, Neil Herron. He vows to clear the name of his grocer compatriot, who died in 2001. (More European Union stories.)