There has been a potent counterattack against the cashless
society agenda. If you've never watched GB News then please do so. It may not
be HPANWO, but it is a breath of fresh air compared to the usual standards of
the legacy media. For the last few weeks they have been running a campaign
called "Don't Kill Cash" which includes a petition that has gathered
over 300,000 signatures, including mine. They presented this to Number Ten (They
took the photograph above of them handing it over to the doorman, who does not
look very happy about it). This amount of support will make some kind of
backtracking inevitable; in fact just hours later the Treasury announced a
review of all cashless reforms and an acknowledgement that protecting cash
access is necessary. I would add, like the campaigners, that the status of cash
as legal tender in retail is also necessary. There is additional pressure from
consumers too which is very welcome. Research conducted in January last year
showed that 73% of people paid with cash for something. Despite more and more
ATM's shutting down, withdrawals rose by 19%. The Nationwide Building Society
even calls this a "post-Covid (cash) comeback". Source: https://www.gbnews.com/money/rishi-sunak-money-boost-gb-news-dont-kill-cash.
Is Britain London
See here for background: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2022/07/cashless-street.html.
And: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2023/02/greene-king-goes-cashless.html.
See here for background: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2022/07/cashless-street.html.
And: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2023/02/greene-king-goes-cashless.html.
While I have no issue with using cash I do take issue with 'fearmongering' that there is some nefarious plot to remove it. It is certainly reasonable to ask the question should it be abolished if people have a multitude of other forms of payment available. The answer to that question has been a resounding no from the financial institutions
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bradford.ac.uk/news/archive/2023/should-cash-be-abolished.php.
Gb News and Piers Corbyn are especially fond of riling their target audiences (seems to have worked on some...) with fear stories for 'clicks and grifts' the 'sign this petition' ones are especially popular to farm contact details for further scams (you've been warned).
Cash use has dropped significantly in the UK but as you rightly pointed out had a small bounce back at could well have plateaued as the second most popular form of payment.
Finally regarding Piers Corbyn's Supermarket paying in cash stunt. Some context lost in this was the fact the Aldi store visited was cashless (the only one of it's kind in the UK). In the same way many businesses are 'cash only' ( hairdressers being a common example). Piers was effectively shoplifting as the store had no way to process the cash given. The term 'legal tender' doesn't mean a business is forced to accept this form of payment (this was Piers claim in the video) While cash is legal tender, it is not against the law for a business to choose which payment methods they accept. “Legal tender” only has significance when settling a court awarded debt, not when buying a £1.90 punnet of strawberries from your local Aldi.
"For the time being"... She might as well have said "only in Minecraft". This is the equivalent of "We have no current plans for forced V*** and v*** passports are a far right conspiracy theory".
ReplyDeleteYou've missed the point about Corbyn and his "stunt". Businesses can indeed choose not to accept cash as payment, but if they do then they do so at the risk of a customer then choosing not to use the alternative payment method and accepting the goods as a gift from the shop. What they cannot do is make it a CRIMINAL issue when somebody OFFERS legal tender. That was what Corbyn was trying to point out.