BHP vs PS and Nm instead of ft/lbs

[buffalo182]

So just the same way as football seems to be getting called soccer more and more in the media, we now have car stats expressed in PS and and Nm instead of old money.
When did this happen and why?
Regardless if our vehicles form part of the european market and that is how they wish to express it to our euro chums. Surely our journalist and media in a domestic environment should be giving us the figures we grew up with and know?
Is it just a fly way to make the figures look bigger and more powerfull by car manufacturers or lazy journalism or a bit of both?