Keep the change

Can we do without cash? Since 2015, digital payments in the UK have outnumbered those in cash, and we are invited by the great and the good to cheer this on. The fully cashless era will be magnificently convenient, they say, with goods delivered directly to the door: no fumbling for change, just tap and go. Some London branches of several chains (Waitrose, Tossed, Doddle) don’t accept cash any more. Many others fast-track customers who can pay by contactless means. Businesses and banks want to abolish cash because they have near-pathological fears of the black market and tax avoidance. Yet we should worry about the death of cash, because physical money possesses worth far above its face value.

Cash is the great leveller. Every penny, pound and banknote sits the same in every hand, identical in value and appearance. A pocketful of change is a gallery-cum–museum. Yes, the Queen is the mainstay, but coins abound in symbols of the Union: the medley of Tudor roses, thistles, ostrich feathers and lions still circulates, now jostling with shards of the Royal Arms.