Boris Johnson can’t transport the UK back to a bygone era – however much he wants to

The push to reintroduce imperial measures – which never really went away – is nothing but a folly, writes Chris Blackhurst

For the PM, this represents much more than a system of numbers for sizing and quantifying (Getty)

Near Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire is Bekonscot model village.

It’s the oldest such attraction in the world and portrays rural English life in the 1920s and 1930s. There’s a cricket match on the village green, a pub selling pint jugs of foaming beer, a post office, a bank, a red telephone box, a well-attended church, a bobby in uniform, a children’s playground. Everyone looks happy and content, everything appears glorious.

What there isn’t is any sign of social disadvantage, no indication of poverty, hardship or crime. No evidence of the heavy hand of government and, lord forbid, any interference from Brussels.