The Bank of England has today issued a press release concerning the new £50 note. In it they say:
Today, Governor Andrew Bailey unveils the design of the new £50 banknote featuring the scientist Alan Turing. He will be joined by Stephen Fry and Dr Simon Singh, who will reflect on the note, and the choice to feature Alan Turing on it. Following its public unveil today, the polymer £50 will be issued for the first time on 23 June 2021, which coincides with Alan Turing's birthday.
I am pleased Alan Turing is being celebrated. But that does not prevent me asking the very obvious question as to why we need such a note?
That I can recall I have never had £50 note. To be honest, I can think of no need for one. And if I had such a need I can also think of no reason why two £20 notes and a £10 note would not do just as well.
I very strongly suspect most readers of this are in a similar position. Even recalling the colour of a £50 note would challenge most people (it's red). So why do we have it when it is used so little?
By far the best justification for the £50 note is that it makes illicit activity - from drug dealing to tax evasion - so much easier. Any other use it might have is incidental, in my view, to that purpose.
So, why is the Bank of England producing a new note whose primary use will be in illicit activity in the UK economy? I wish I knew. The UK could survive without a £50 note. I very strongly suggest that it should.
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“So, why is the Bank of England producing a new note”…….so the old ones can be recovered, the cocaine on them cleaned off & then perhaps recycled. Apparently most high denomination notes are contaminated with drugs. That’s my take. That said, what’s the point? Probably a bit of willy waving by the BoE and a photo op for the cretinous Mendacious Fat.
The EU seems to survive with the 50 Euro note but take your point about the UK £50 one. I’m fairly long in the tooth but I don’t think I have ever seen a £50 note and wouldn’t know if is a fake one or not if I did – useful to know its red though. I don’t suppose Alan Turing would think it much compensation for the criminal homophobic treatment he got from the UK authorities.
“Who uses £50 notes?” is a good question. Does the Bank of England say who it thinks its legitimate customers are? Presumably people who undertake large cash transactions. Or keep wads of notes under their mattress.
I think I’ve seen seen and held a £50 note twice in my life but can’t recall ever spending one. The UK at least is rapidly moving towards a cashless economy but I can’t see banknotes being entirely eliminated any time soon.
I’ve certainly had and used more €100 and $100 notes. The EU is still printing €200 notes; the €500 note remains valid but is no longer produced.
The Eurozone had a EUR 500 note worth about £400 (this is no longer produced, EUR 200 is the largest now) but Switzerland has a CHF 1,000 note (£800)! So, serious drug dealers will still have options. Singapore will discontinue the SGD 1,000 note (GBP 500)…. but I am not sure that too many of those will have cocaine contamination!
In short, the £50 is not large by international standards. Do we need it? No!….. Do I care? Not really – there are other things that keep me awake at night.
Ireland has €50 notes and we get them from ATM’s as standard issue.
Maybe it could be the Freeport Note.
🙂
The sole purpose of a £50 note is that it is easier to carry than two £20s and a £10. Fits nicely in suitcases etc.
I have seen one of the old ones, but can’t remember why.
I do get €50 notes to take on holiday – I don’t ask for them and frankly they are a pain when buying some fruit and veg at a local shop and also awkward when paying for a meal where you know the waiter will take ages to bring your change.
Anyway, their main use in Euroland is the same as here – and the same reason as Frank Sinatra used to visit Havana.
At one time I hadn’t seen a £20 note but now I do have a couple in my wallet. I know inflation is lower than it used to be but it is going to be just a matter of time before we have £50 notes in increasing acceptance too.
I’m fine with £50 notes providing I know they aren’t fake.
I’m wary of these kinds of arguments. There’s a similar argument that we should abolish cash altogether, supposedly to prevent tax evasion. In reality I suspect the motivation is to have negative and then even more negative interest rates. This is on the agenda of some neoliberals. Like Kenneth Rogoff.
https://think.ing.com/opinions/the-case-for-deeply-negative-interest-rates
The £20 note is the most commonly used
If you really use cash a lot you would be pretty familiar with it
There is a NewsThump for everything:
https://newsthump.com/2021/03/25/man-who-spent-his-life-unaccepted-by-society-to-spend-his-death-being-unaccepted-by-most-shopkeepers/
I have to say it’s always frustrated me that £50 notes weren’t in wider circulation. I go to Czechia regularly where 2000CK notes are regularly dispensed at machines – about 60 quid – and the 50 euro note is an everyday event elsewhere in Europe.
If they mean to properly put them into circulation all well and good. If they don’t as you say it’s just more showboating.
When I got married way back in the early 80’s, my parents in law in Hong Kong gave me a “red packet” containing two £50 notes. Perhaps I should have framed them because they are the only two I have ever seen. I do remember the man in the corner shop being very suspicious of them and I decided the best thing to do was to change them at the bank.
🙂
Our business has received payment from customers including the odd £50 note on many occasions over the years.
I don’t recall that any of these orders came from customers within the UK, however. Generally from overseas customers living in Greece and Scandinavia. I’m not sure what that says about the note and its usage, however!
It seems to be used for foreign exchange fur some reason
“I don’t use it, have no reason to use it so I see no reason why anyone else would, unless it’s for illegal stuff.”
Not entirely a cogent argument there…
Maybe you don’t recognise cogent arguments too well
I have seen £50 notes and even had the odd one in my possession, but only because of working for an auctioneer some of whose customers chose to pay even quite large bills in cash. Earlier this week I was actually obliged to use one to make a payment because my card had been stopped due to suspected fraudulent activity (my bank are very vigilant on this, for which I am grateful) and the note in question was the only cash I had, since I have barely had any reason to use cash of late.
I once received £500 in £50 notes from an elderly client who preferred to deal in notes rather than electronics. It was the first time I had had any and one of only two times I have ever been paid in cash. As an experiment I subsequently spent them in 10 different shops with no difficulty at all. It led me to conclude that I had been naive about the use of such notes and they seem to be widely accepted.
Years ago we got some to take to North Africa as they were easier to conceal (from thieves, not the authorities) and we had been advised not to rely solely on travellers’ cheques. There were no problems in exchanging them, unless you tried buying a packet of gum from a street stall. I haven’t found a use for them in daily life here, but I don’t do drugs.
My first thought when I saw your headline was exactly the same as yours Richard. I’m sure you’re absolutely right. But then you have to ask, why would the government spend a lot of money assisting illicit activity? One can only assume that it suits the government to assist the most obvious consequence, laundering, just as they currently assist tax avoidance. We see a parallel with drugs. Drug crime is caused by criminalisation, just as Prohibition created crime in the US in the 30’s. That was effectively solved, not by more policing, which made it worse, but by decriminalising alcohol. The only real solution to drug crime, as Prohibition made clear, is decriminalisation. Yet governments continue the farcical, utterly futile ‘battle’ against drugs, needlessly wasting police resources, the only visible consequence being to increase drug crime. So the question appears again. Why do governments continue to avoid the obvious solution? The only rational answer is that drug crime suits them, and so we may assume that the criminal consequences of the introduction of £50 notes must suit the government, too.