Tuesday, October 31, 2006

You Could Only Read it in a British Tabloid (the Daily Mirror, London):

‘WHY NOT WINSTON? ANGER AS LITTLE-KNOWN SCOT GETS ON NEW NOTE’
by Vanessa Allen, who opens with:

‘THE new £20 note featuring Scottish economist Adam smith was unveiled yesterday ... leaving critics furious.’

Venessa Allen adds:

‘A Tory MP said: ‘The Bank of England note should have a great Englishman or woman on it.’

Comments
NB for MPs
: the Bank of England was founded by a Scotsman, William Paterson (1658-1719), in 1694; the Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and is not specifically ‘English’. Its writ in monetary affairs cover all four constituent countries in the Union of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

NB for patriotic Scots: Paterson was also a founder for the Darien scheme in the Isthmus of Panama that bankrupted Scotland and drove it into a Union with England in 1707.

Note for all non-British readers: the above is another example of a family squabble or quibble that is normal in these islands and seemingly is trivial unless you are completely fluent in British insularity.

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