The decision of the Bank of England to replace images of famous people on bank notes with wildlife pictures is angering all the right people. Naturally, Nigel Farage is frothing at the mouth because, apparently, replacing Winston Churchill with a picture of British wildlife is – and I am sure you saw the punchline coming miles back – “woke”. Piers ‘Moron’ Morgan whinges that “the greatest Briton of all” being removed from banknotes is wrong. And look at what Allister Heath in the totally bonkers Telegraph is saying:
Am I living on a different planet from these people? I do hope so.
Churchill was, undoubtedly, a great leader during World War Two. It’s undeniable. No one is denying it. Was he a great person? Hardly. And anyway, he’s only been on a banknote for around nine years. As for Heath’s comments, it was not the prime minister who decided a change to bank notes was needed: it’s the Bank of England. An easy mistake to make, I suppose, if you want to come up with any old excuse to have a pop at Keir Starmer.
As per usual, it’s angry old white men who are grabbing the publicity for this non-story, angry old white men who have their fingers on the collective pulse of angry old white men and women everywhere, who likely comprise the majority of the 12% of Brits who still pay for stuff by cash.
I never quite understood why we needed pictures of anything on bank notes. It’s not as if we sit there gazing at them in adoration. “Oh just look at the lovely old picture of Churchill. Do I really want to trade him in for a round of drinks in the pub?” Just a bog standard note with its denomination clearly shown, with all the usual anti-fraud gubbins like watermarks on. It’s just a fucking banknote. Does it really matter if there’s a picture of Churchill, Charlie Darwin, a beaver or a badger on it?
For the likes of Farage, it’s yet another example of his grievance-style politics. He trades off anger and disillusionment by trying to make people more angry and disillusioned. No grievance in his mind can be too trivial. In his world, it’s another example of how the out-of-touch elite ignore the wishes of ordinary folk, even if Farage, the privately-educated, former city trader, multimillionaire meets the actual definition of the elite, the establishment. Worst of all, none of this shit matters.
Perhaps, the Bank of England can come up with different types of banknotes? Pictures of Churchill for flag-shaggers, British wildlife for British wildlife lovers and no pictures at all for those of who don’t give a toss (and never use cash anyway)?
Of all the things that should be troubling our minds these days, who and what is on our banknotes is surely not at the top of our list of priorities, is it?
