UK Politics Thread XII: The Lockdown

[The New California Republic]

Watson-Watt should have his own coin or banknote. I'd even settle for him on one of the notes issued by the Scottish banks.

[The Archregimancy]

Watson-Watt should have his own coin or banknote. I'd even settle for him on one of the notes issued by the Scottish banks.

Already too late to replace James Watt with Robert Watson-Watt, what.

[The New California Republic]

Watson-Watt should have his own coin or banknote. I'd even settle for him on one of the notes issued by the Scottish banks.

Already too late to replace James Watt with Robert Watson-Watt, what.

The Scottish banks could actually bring back the £1 note, with Watson-Watt on it, to satisfy two things that I want at the same time. But alas, I don't think such a thing is even on the radar.

[Hirota]

Both very worthy people to be put on a coin.

Noor Inayat Khan's heroism well deserves remembering. Mary Seacole's work in the Crimean war also deserves far more prominence than it generally receives.

The problem I have is that I don't think they'd be being talked about in the same category as some of the nominees for the 50 quid note a few years back. Stephen Hawking, Alexander Fleming , Dorothy Hodgkin, Michael Faraday, Ada Lovelace, Alexander Graham Bell, John Herschel, John Locke, Isambard Kingdom Brunel were all in the running.

Thought of another candidate though that also ticks the diversity box - Srinivasa Ramanujan

[The Archregimancy]

Both very worthy people to be put on a coin.

Noor Inayat Khan's heroism well deserves remembering. Mary Seacole's work in the Crimean war also deserves far more prominence than it generally receives.

The problem I have is that I don't think they'd be being talked about in the same category as some of the nominees for the 50 quid note a few years back. Stephen Hawking, Alexander Fleming , Dorothy Hodgkin, Michael Faraday, Ada Lovelace, Alexander Graham Bell, John Herschel, John Locke, Isambard Kingdom Brunel were all in the running.

Surely not Faraday?

Only because, well, we've been there and done that fairly recently.



That was only withdrawn from circulation in 2001.

[Hirota]

The problem I have is that I don't think they'd be being talked about in the same category as some of the nominees for the 50 quid note a few years back. Stephen Hawking, Alexander Fleming , Dorothy Hodgkin, Michael Faraday, Ada Lovelace, Alexander Graham Bell, John Herschel, John Locke, Isambard Kingdom Brunel were all in the running.

Surely not Faraday?

Only because, well, we've been there and done that fairly recently.



That was only withdrawn from circulation in 2001.

<shrugs> He was one of the nominees. Mind you, so was Harry Maguire Riding An Inflatable Unicorn, so worse things are known than using the same person for a second time I suppose.

[The Notorious Mad Jack]

Already too late to replace James Watt with Robert Watson-Watt, what.

The Scottish banks could actually bring back the £1 note, with Watson-Watt on it, to satisfy two things that I want at the same time. But alas, I don't think such a thing is even on the radar.

Why would you want the £1 note back?

[Fartsniffage]

The Scottish banks could actually bring back the £1 note, with Watson-Watt on it, to satisfy two things that I want at the same time. But alas, I don't think such a thing is even on the radar.

Why would you want the £1 note back?

So one can "make it rain" without breaking the bank.

[The Notorious Mad Jack]

Why would you want the £1 note back?

So one can "make it rain" without breaking the bank.

Just throw coins at them.

[The New California Republic]

The Scottish banks could actually bring back the £1 note, with Watson-Watt on it, to satisfy two things that I want at the same time. But alas, I don't think such a thing is even on the radar.

Why would you want the £1 note back?

Because they were such a novelty, and I liked using them.

[Ostroeuropa]

I just saw 5 black birds (IDK!) on my neighbors roof. Two started fighting and one was pecking the shit out of another pinned to the roof while the other 3 went mental with a noise i'd never heard them make before.

Then like, dozens and dozens flew in to land on the roof and circle it and starting cawing at the fight until it stopped. The aggressor flew away.

I'm stunned.

Defund the police and make birds the police?

[Alvecia]

So one can "make it rain" without breaking the bank.

Just throw coins at them.

Would that be considered tips or hazard pay?

[Nuroblav]

Would that be considered tips or hazard pay?

A bit of both perhaps?

[Ostroeuropa]

Is there any real reason we need to have one person on each coin? Is it really that much harder to discover counterfeits if we have a few for each?

[Fartsniffage]

Is there any real reason we need to have one person on each coin? Is it really that much harder to discover counterfeits if we have a few for each?

Do you mean notes? Because there are loads of different images on coins.

[Ostroeuropa]

Is there any real reason we need to have one person on each coin? Is it really that much harder to discover counterfeits if we have a few for each?

Do you mean notes? Because there are loads of different images on coins.

Yeah, notes I mean. Surely coins demonstrate proof of concept. It's not like specific and complex anti-forgery measures are available to most, and they don't seem to rely on the person on the note rather than the verification sections.

[The Archregimancy]

Is there any real reason we need to have one person on each coin? [Ostro meant banknotes; see above] Is it really that much harder to discover counterfeits if we have a few for each?

I imagine it's saving money via economies of scale rather than issues of identifying counterfeits.

Given the number of anti-counterfeiting measures in most modern bank notes, and the sheer volume of bank notes produced, it would likely be expensive to set up individual printing runs for multiple designs of the same denomination, even in an era of digital designing.

Also note that, unlike coins (still exclusively manufactured by the Royal Mint), Bank of England bank notes are not produced by the government, but are printed under contract by the commercial company De La Rue - UK-based, but the world's most important private producer of bank notes for a large number of countries around the world. So commercial issues will be a partial consideration.

The Bank of England does have a short YouTube video about £5 note production:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRbKkfkAH2s

It's not necessarily very informative, but it does give some idea about both scale and complexity.


Finally, just to be pedantic, there are already at least two people on every note - one of them the Queen - and three people on the current £50 note (the reverse features both Matthew Boulton and James Watt). What you actually mean is 'Is there any real reason we need to have the same design on the reverse of each note of the same denomination?'



Edit:
Rather than double post, a minor piece of vaguely interesting trivia... When the new £50 comes out next year, Alan Turing will become the first person born in the 20th century (1912) to appear on a Bank of England note (other than the Queen, of course). I could be wrong, but offhand I think Churchill (1874) and Elgar (1857) are the only two previous figures to feature who were born as late as the second half of the 19th century.

[Vassenor]

So I'm trying to figure out the logic behind this new push for extra sales tax on online purchases and deliveries.

Especially now, when you'd think that we'd be pushing online shopping as much as possible in order to make social distancing easier, and to make sure people who have to isolate can still get food and such. Or is this another case of the government pushing the economy over human lives?

And this is before we get to the arguments regarding who's likely to be worst hit, with the wealthier end of the spectrum being better able to weather this increase and so not be forced back to the brick-and-mortar shops like people in lower income brackets will be. Although given the attitudes of this government so far, it wouldn't shock me too much if that was the point of the whole exercise.

[Novus America]

So I'm trying to figure out the logic behind this new push for extra sales tax on online purchases and deliveries.

Especially now, when you'd think that we'd be pushing online shopping as much as possible in order to make social distancing easier, and to make sure people who have to isolate can still get food and such. Or is this another case of the government pushing the economy over human lives?

And this is before we get to the arguments regarding who's likely to be worst hit, with the wealthier end of the spectrum being better able to weather this increase and so not be forced back to the brick-and-mortar shops like people in lower income brackets will be. Although given the attitudes of this government so far, it wouldn't shock me too much if that was the point of the whole exercise.

I get why one might criticize this as a bad way to go about things but the “economy over lives” is a dumb meme that seems to contradict your point here. If you goal is to improve the poor’s access to goods, how is disregarding the economy a good thing?

If the economy is bad, the poor is hurt the worse too.

[Vassenor]

So I'm trying to figure out the logic behind this new push for extra sales tax on online purchases and deliveries.

Especially now, when you'd think that we'd be pushing online shopping as much as possible in order to make social distancing easier, and to make sure people who have to isolate can still get food and such. Or is this another case of the government pushing the economy over human lives?

And this is before we get to the arguments regarding who's likely to be worst hit, with the wealthier end of the spectrum being better able to weather this increase and so not be forced back to the brick-and-mortar shops like people in lower income brackets will be. Although given the attitudes of this government so far, it wouldn't shock me too much if that was the point of the whole exercise.

I get why one might criticize this as a bad way to go about things but the “economy over lives” is a dumb meme that seems to contradict your point here. If you goal is to improve the poor’s access to goods, how is disregarding the economy a good thing?

If the economy is bad, the poor is hurt the worse too.

You do understand the point of the lockdown, right?

[Novus America]

I get why one might criticize this as a bad way to go about things but the “economy over lives” is a dumb meme that seems to contradict your point here. If you goal is to improve the poor’s access to goods, how is disregarding the economy a good thing?

If the economy is bad, the poor is hurt the worse too.

You do understand the point of the lockdown, right?

That is not the point, the point is when the economy goes badly, people suffer. Having a good economy is important for improving lives.

Like I said I get you can argue this is not the best way to do things (and I do not see how it actually helps the economy) but the economy over lives meme is still a stupid meme.

Although a lockdown in the UK at this point is futile anyways, it is not working. You cannot stop it now. It is way too late. It only works if it is still containable. It is not.

[CoraSpia]

So I just booked my first table taking advantage of eat out to help out.
bem brasil in Manchester for less than a crappy all you can eat Chinese. Yess please.

[Fartsniffage]

I found out today that the police response time to my house using lights and siren is 3 minutes 43 seconds.

Apparently reporting someone passed out in a car in front of your house with an open can of beer gets the emergency treatment.

[The New California Republic]

I found out today that the police response time to my house using lights and siren is 3 minutes 43 seconds.

Apparently reporting someone passed out in a car in front of your house with an open can of beer gets the emergency treatment.

When I found human remains the response time was quick too, but I didn't time it though, as it didn't seem important at the time.

[Fartsniffage]

I found out today that the police response time to my house using lights and siren is 3 minutes 43 seconds.

Apparently reporting someone passed out in a car in front of your house with an open can of beer gets the emergency treatment.

When I found human remains the response time was quick too, but I didn't time it though, as it didn't seem important at the time.

I made another call just after I got off with 999. That was the time showing on my phone when they showed up.