So now Worcester's greengrocers can sell their bananas in pounds and ounces as well as kilos and grams without fear of prosecution.

Shopkeepers may or may not care, but the decision by EU commissioner Gunther Verheugen to allow Britain to keep its imperial measures in perpetuity is being hailed as a "monumental victory" by groups such as the Metric Martyrs.

It's nothing of the sort. Anyone who thinks that Britain has not largely gone metric already is deluding themselves.

Look in your kitchen cupboard and try to find any packaged product that is not labelled in grams or kilos. Unless you've got a tin of Bird's custard still lurking around from the 1960s, you'll be hard-pressed.

The same goes for most other things, too. Filling up your car? You'll be charged by the litre. Buying a roll of carpet? It'll be measured in metres.

The fact is that metric measures are increasingly the currency of British life, and people are more and more comfortable using them.

Anti-metric campaigners say the retention of imperial measurements will aid our trade with the United States. However, economically we're part of Europe, and the whole point of EU harmonisation' is to make trade between its nations more transparent, thereby enriching all of us.

Imperial measures are part of our history, but not part of our identity. Britain would still be Britain even if we never mentioned pounds and ounces again.

It's only fair that we're allowed to retain a reminder of our past. But let's not pretend that it's important.