Lift A Pint

In the days when Big Brother was to be watching us, author George Orwell envisioned a future in which the pint was replaced by its metric equivalent. Not quite the same exact volume, he grumbled in the pages of 1984. Some feel that Big Brother is indeed watching, given the number of closed circuit cameras dotting London, but the pint is safe.

The European Commission was promoting the use of metric measurements from shore to shore, which meant that English and Irish pubs were to be forced to adopt metric standards for the pour. No more pulling pints, the publican would be forced by law to pull a precise number of centiliters. The public, however, was having none of it.

Guenter Verheugen has declared that the culture and traditions of Great Britain and Ireland are to be honored, and so the pint will continue to exist. Grocers can continue to offer produce by the pound, and the British can motor along at miles per hour.

The change of heart has nothing to do with honoring anyone's culture. The fact is, Mr. Verheugen could have shouted from Brussels that the pub couldn't sell pints, and the pub would continue to sell pints and give Mr. Verheugen a two fingered salute for good measure. At the point where a law becomes ridiculous or is so unpopular that the public will not support it, there can be no enforcement of the law. Rather than look foolish, the commissioners of the European Union saved face and grandly declared that they were ever so wise in choosing to honor culture, magnanimous gentlemen that they are.

Europe is not quite so Orwellian after all. Those who make the rules have discovered the limits of their power.