'Is it time to ditch the pound?' poll results/discussion

mcgazz

> that's no reason to ditch the 700 year old Pound

The UK currency dates from 1971.

shawadawada

no to the euro!!!

the pound is part of what makes us british if you destroy our currency you destroy one of the last little things that we have left thats ours!

shawadawada

mcgazz wrote: »

> that's no reason to ditch the 700 year old Pound

The UK currency dates from 1971.

your talking about the currency i think the person previously meant our own currency as a whole not since we went decimal or wahtever and got the pounds. Think theyre talking about shillings etc with the 700 yr thing

Tuque

Ireland has similar economic characteristics to the UK, but is in the Euro. Will Ireland weather the crisis (and future crises) better than the UK? If the answer is "yes", then the UK would be better off in the Euro.

My sense is the answer is "no". Sterling is tumbling, which is painful when abroad, and will eventually feed into the price of imported goods here. But it also makes British goods, workers, and assets more competitive on world markets, which will stimulate demand.

We don't have to accept nominal wage cuts for our real wages to fall relative to Europe - the exchange rate does it for us. The Irish can't devalue their currency, so they will have to accept nominal wage cuts for pay to be in line with the UK. Wages tend to be sticky going down, so a sharp rise in unemployment over there is a likely outcome. Emigration is one way out of the bind - expect to hear more Irish accents around London in the coming years!

Whether or not there will be a Euro to join is a more important question. The gold standard fell apart in the 1930s when countries sought devaluations from unsuitable exchange rates. Don't be surprised if Ireland and Spain start making noises about leaving the Euro for exactly the same reasons.

geoffW

We could have been a United States of Europe,with everyone speaking english as the first language,with a euro currency and everyone driving on the right if we had embraced the common market ideals,but we have too many 'little britains' that hold us back.
We would never have had a British Empire with this attitude.

rgwm

mcgazz wrote: »

> that's no reason to ditch the 700 year old Pound

The UK currency dates from 1971.

Odd, that - I was born in 1950, and I could have sworn that we had pound notes when I was growing up:rotfl:.

All that happened in 1971 was that we changed to a decimal sub-division of the pound, ie 100p to the pound as opposed to 240d, or 20 shillings......the pound remained the same;)

I'm not denying that decimalisation didn't lead to a marked jump in prices as it was difficult (tho it shouldn't have been!) for people to make comparisons between pre and post-decimalisation prices for items under a pound. Just shows that an inability to do simple maths has been a long-term rather than a recent problem, I guess.

And if you ask people in the countries that have adopted the Euro - the same thing happened there - a revised currency was a great opportunity for sneaky price rises!

I'm not a fan of converting to the Euro as I believe the stresses of such disparate economies as say Germany and the newly joining ex-soviet economies will eventually make it unmanageable.

bradavon

I vote no as historically the Pound has always been stronger and I'm confident it will be again.

Unlike many I'm not at all against it for xenophobic reasons. Most of the time I'm pro Europe.

Skylight_2

Right now the pound is low, but like everything in the financial world what went up can go down and visa versa, the difference in exchange rates is manna from heaven for the FOREX market, which if used sensibly can beat any recession and financial downturn. It's not all for the big cats of finance, ordinary people can make good - but tuition is vital!

Leave the pound well alone for the aforementioned reason, but also because such a change will affect adversely just about every commodity we buy - just as the change to decimal in 1971 did, with pensioners and the less well off being hit hardest. I still convert to £sd, as it was the denomination of my childhood, it keeps the mind sharp, and yet something else I can teach my kids.

The French, Spanish, German, and Italian people would dearly like to return to their previous respective currencies, it was the World Bank that wanted parity for greater control - that's one very big cat, and the sooner it gets its claws clipped the better.

Ruth63_2

No - I think we should join the Euro now, although I realise I am in a small minority. The majority of people in this country have been very successfuly propaganda-ed and manipulated into being Eurosceptic by the "Establishment" who want to maintain the myth that we are still a world power and still have an Empire, among other things.
How easily the pople in this country are taken in by the Eurosceptic media, acting in the interests of their very rich owners.
I doubt we'll ever join the Euro because it is not in the interests of the "powers-that-be" who rule us, including the "Royal Family".
It would be good to have a united Europe which could be a real power in the world - to balance against America. It would also be good to be able to work shorter hours for higher salaries, as in some ofthe Eu countries. It is still, comparatively speaking, a fledgling "Union"
I get very angry when I hear and see what Eurosceptics and see very few pro-Europe advantages put forward - it's completely one-sided.
Also, I do not think Gordon Brown is pro Europe, hence his so-called "five tests" to keep us out.

BritSwedeGuy

The number of flag-waving, conspiratorial, uninformed and just plain dumb comments shouldn't surprise me. It still does though, so maybe I'm not as big a cynic as I thought I was.
My advice - don't form your opinions based upon Daily Mail editorials or that of Have Your Say commentators.