Cash is King

Use it or lose it!

On the way home the other evening, I saw an eerie poster on the tube saying, “When an abuser controls your finances, they control you.” Part of the ‘safe spaces’ ad campaign raising awareness about economic abuse, which occurs in 95% of domestic abuse situations. This an important conversation to be had.

What struck me, though, was how HSBC seemed to be foreshadowing our futures. The Bank of England says, “looking closely at whether we should introduce a central bank digital currency in the UK and how it might work if we did”. The Bank of England previously told ministers “to intervene on digital currency’ programming’” so that “Digital cash could be programmed to ensure it is only spent on essentials or goods which an employer or Government deems to be sensible”. These are direct quotes.

Imagine a world where money is no longer printed; it is created on a computer. A computer which says where you can spend your money, what you can spend it on, and how much you can spend. A world where the Bank of England, and by extension, the government, knows where you spend every single penny. That is a world without freedom. As my dear friend and colleague, Neil Oliver, says, “Freedom to transact trumps all others.”

I would argue we have been in an abusive relationship with our government for a number of years. They took away our civil liberties, locked us in our own homes, and mandated some care-home workers to participate in medical procedures. The government employs behavioural scientists to manipulate the British public; there is a Nudge Unit plotting to increase compliance and a Trusted News Initiative propagandising to increase uptake of the jab. This is not a conspiracy; this is published government policy. Now, imagine if a government could ‘incentivise’ our behaviour by controlling our spending habits. It’s a risk not worth taking.

Less than 20% of all transactions in this country are made using cash. At the same time, bank branches are being closed down left/right/centre – often using the pandemic or lockdowns as an excuse. We’ve also seen a huge push toward digital transactions, with the cap on contactless payments increasing from £20 to £100 last year. Now Mastercard and Apple Pay allow contactless payments over that limit in certain shops across the UK.

If we want to keep hold of a tangible payment method, we need to remember: use it or lose it. Cash is king.