About the £50 Note

I see that the Bank of England are gearing up to replace their £50 with a new polymer version, to go with the exciting £5 and £10 notes they've already issued. This has, of course, triggered the inevitable controversy over who should be on it.

In theory, the criteria are fairly simple: it needs to be someone British, relatively famous, and dead. Of course, then there are the other qualifications - we need to ensure we find someone who isn't too divisive, and we ideally want to increase representation of women and people of colour. Which is fine, but I rather wish they'd simply state those other requirements, rather than having a set of invisible rules. It would just make the job easier.

Rather unfortunately, it looks like the front-runner for the job is Margaret Thatcher. And, in most regards she ticks all the boxes, including providing additional representation of women. Plus, she's backed by some very influential people, for obvious reasons. (There's even an argument that she's exactly the person we want on a bank note that will pretty much exist for the benefit of the already rich.)

All that said, I'm hard pressed to think of anyone I'd like to see less, at least without delving into actual criminal behaviour.

I do, however, have an alternative suggestion that I think is a good one. It is contingent on the Bank of England finding a way to fit the portraits of two people into the space, but that shouldn't be beyond the wit of men (especially on the £50 note, which is after all the largest of the English bank notes).

Morcambe and Wise.

Now, granted, that's two more white men, which doesn't exactly strike a blow for equality. On the other hand, they're British, famous, and dead, and shouldn't be a particularly divisive choice. Plus, they'd certainly bring me sunshine, at least.

(One last thing: If the BoE were to decide that they do want to choose a woman for their new note, my nomination would go to Ada Lovelace. Again, British, relatively famous, and dead, and not a particularly divisive choice. Plus, a reflection of the importance of science and engineering in building the modern world and a very visual advertisement of the importance of women in STEM. That's about as solid a set of credentials as you can get. So while I would prefer M&W, and would smile a little every time I saw the note in use, the selection of AL would also make me very happy indeed.)