British referendums are not exactly known for past success
The Bank of England, the UK’s central bank, just took the foolhardy decision to ask the public to decide which eminent personality should grace the next ￡50 note.
These exercises in direct democracy rarely turn out well. When officials asked the British public to come up with a name for a new polar research ship in 2016, the outright winner was Boaty McBoatface.
On that occasion, the public’s frivolous choice was overruled. Two months later, when voters took what many regarded as the equally frivolous decision to quit the European Union, the decision was allowed to stand.
The referendum vote was supposed to resolve divisions over relations with Europe but has predictably exacerbated them. More than two years on, the UK is split into argumentative ideological tribes. So we should anticipate further irascibility over the ￡50 banknote.
Over the centuries, banknotes have evolved from bland, monochrome promissory notes into complex expressions of a nation’s beliefs, aspirations, traditions and politics.
China, which invented paper money, has opted for revolutionary leaders, workers and natural and cultural sites to grace its modern notes. Euro notes reflect the architectural history of the 19 European states that share the currency, from classical to renaissance to modern. The United States has invariably opted for dead former presidents to feature on its dollar bills.
The rules for the latest Bank of England survey is that the successful candidate must be a dead scientist. “Our banknotes are an opportunity to celebrate the diversity of UK society and highlight the contributions of its greatest citizens,” bank governor Mark Carney announced.
“Diversity” is a liberal buzzword that tends to enflame traditionalists. Feminists would like to see a woman on the new note. A petition has been launched, however, to insist that potential female candidates should not include Margaret Thatcher, the contentious former prime minister, who was trained as a scientist.
One woman, Queen Elizabeth II, already figures on notes of all denominations as head of state. Most feminists would say that doesn’t count.
Gay rights campaigners might be among those who push for computer pioneer Alan Turing. The World War II codebreaker helped defeat Hitler, but he was convicted in 1952 under anti-homosexuality laws before being posthumously pardoned in 2013.
As the UK national discussion on the ￡50 note gets underway, it is worth asking whether it really matters. In a couple of generations, banknotes might actually have died out as credit and touch cards increasingly come to replace hard cash. China is leading the way in the move toward a cashless society, at least in the cities.
One reason is that Chinese banks do not impose the same high charges on merchants for the privilege of accepting digital payments as their counterparts in the US and elsewhere.
The cashless trend is apparent in the UK too, although progress is slower. While young people are quite happy to buy their morning coffee with a card, older people tend to stick to old-fashioned cash.
A good tip for visitors to the UK is to avoid tendering a ￡50 note. While shops in the eurozone are unfazed by being presented with a 50 euro note – now almost the same value as its UK counterpart – shop assistants in Britain will invariably react in horror at the sight of a ￡50 note, as if they had never seen one. There is actually no legal requirement for retailers to accept the note.
The ￡50 note has never caught on since its introduction in 1725 when it was, of course, worth considerably more than it is now. Until the Bank of England’s latest announcement, there was even a debate on whether it might be phased out.
Part of the prejudice stems from the belief that the denomination is favored by organized criminals – the “currency of corrupt elites, of crime of all sorts and of tax evasion,” as one former banker described it.
Maybe having your picture on the note would not be such a privilege after all.
The author is a senior media consultant for China Daily. Contact the writer at [email protected]
(China Daily European Weekly 11/09/2018 page9)