For some time now we have been under strict orders not to mock the iconic blue passports which will be introduced sometime…who knows when… after the UK leaves the EU.
Munguin has been, more or less, careful to heed the instructions of MPs.
Who, after all, is he, a mere media mogul, to disobey the commands of our richers and betters?
It’s been hard not to snigger at the passports, though, for several reasons.
After all, they won’t actually be iconic, because in the 21st century, passports from Canada to New Zealand, from Albania to Zambia, meet international standards of size, shape and layout, so that they can be read by electronic readers at every airport across the globe. And the standard has for some time been set by the International Civil Aviation Organization.
And the UK’s EU passport could have been blue in any case. The red colour was only a Brussels’ suggestion. Croatian EU passports, for example, are blue!
Add all that to the fact that they will be manufactured in France and “iconic” (iconique) melds easily into “ironic” (ironique).
But enough of that, for there is something even more exciting to celebrate… and not in any way to mock or sneer at. Today, in his budget, Mr Hammond (you know, the cheery looking bloke with the smiley face? Aye, well, not him, the other one with the long face that looks like he lost a shilling and found a sixpence) will announce another Brexit bonus.
Yes. The UK is to have a new 50p coin, issued on the day it leaves the EU.
What about that then. eh?
In retrospect, we probably should have warned you to be sitting down before you read it. But for those of you who are still with us and haven’t passed out with excitement, it is true. A celebration of Brexit will be made available to us all, even readers in Scotland (probably).
And in a bid to send out a positive signal to the world, it is expected to bear the phrase, ‘Friendship With All Nations’. Doesn’t that tug at your heart?
So, y’know, people from Kenya to Kazakhstan who lay their hands on a 50p piece (worth next to nothing) will be aware that Britain wishes them friendship, in a sort of isolationist way, because, obviously, it is better than everyone else.
AND…
It was The Sun what done it.
According to that august organ:
“The Sun has campaigned for the Government to create an enduring gesture to mark Brexit as a landmark national moment, such as a special stamp or coin.”
It continued:
“The commemorative coin has had to be personally signed off by the Queen, as it will bear her head.” (This gave them an excuse to include a photo of Liz, which always goes down well with Sun readers., although for the more sophisticated taste of Munguin readers we thought this more appropriate.)
And, if there’s anything left in the shops, just imagine what fun you can have spending it.
You could hope for a sale at Poundland…
Or you could get a tattoo… as long as you weren’t too fussy about spelling.
Or maybe a second-hand hat? (Note from Munguin: You’ve fallen for the crowd-pleasing photo of Liz, you idiot!)
This place gets madder by the day.
I just had that sickening sensation of being thrown into an alternate reality – “Friendship with all nations”? – except for all their citizens who happen to be living in the UK right now, who can bloody well sod off back out of Engerlund no matter what their circumstances are? It’s shameful, it’s sickening, it’s utterly hypocritical, and it is embarrassing to be even tangentially associated with it.
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… and our Scottish passports should, I believe, be the blue described as Pantone 300: “… variations in shade eventually led to calls to standardise the colour of Scotland’s national flag, and in 2003 a committee of the Scottish Parliament met to examine a petition that the Scottish Executive adopt the Pantone 300 colour as a standard. (Note that this blue is of a lighter shade than the Pantone 280 of the Union Flag). Having taken advice from a number of sources, including the office of the Lord Lyon King of Arms, the committee recommended that the optimum shade of blue for the Saltire be Pantone 300. Recent versions of the Saltire have therefore largely converged on this official recommendation. (Pantone 300 is #005EB8 as hexadecimal web colours.)” From Wikipedia, “Flag of Scotland”: https://is.gd/vwB4y5.
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Agreed!
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And they just don’t see that, do they?
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Love the new Brexit throwing star…
… and I’m still convinced my old passport was black, Tris.
Hope you’re well.
Dx
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LOL. We could make it an Olympic sport… if only other countries had such a jolly looking coin.
Yep, I still think mine was black, but they say it was blue, and THEY are never wrong.
It’s always lovely to hear from you, Darren. I still play your brilliant version of Caledonia and remember that day in the town when we were all singing it. Best version ever…
All well here.
Hope your lot are too.
Munguin sends love to all of you. 🙂 Me too!
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I am looking at two old passports, both of them definitely black as the colour matches all the other black items I have.
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I’m wondering if we should demand BLACK passports. (Iconic ones obviously!)
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Aye, somewhere or other I’ve still got my black passport from way back when 😉
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Was it iconic… or was it just a passport?
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Blue in the same way that blue police uniforms are actually black
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That sort of thing. 🙂
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Tris – Darren – it is this version, isn’t it? – https://youtu.be/wYGg3bllbG8. I hope so, because I love it. It raises the hairs on the back of my neck, gets to me on a deep emotional level somehow. Maybe the effect is heightened for me because I spent almost all my adult and working life up to about 2009 outwith Scotland, but that’s only maybe – it’s a very powerful song.
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That’s the version, Ed.
Without a doubt (and with full respect to Mr McLean) the best version ever of this song Ed, and Munguin and I sang with Darren and the lads in a live rendition in Dundee. Proud!
Even better, the song made the charts and every penny went to foodbanks.
We are proud that Munguin played a tiny part in advertising and promoting the song.
It still brings tears to my eyes when I hear it.
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https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/rob-mcdowall/libations-single-for-foodbands_b_5691782.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer_us=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvLnVrLw&guce_referrer_cs=2ycz1pQ1quCJ3ETmA0wMHw
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**WARNING: BLOG HIJACKING ATTEMPT BY FREEMAN NOW IMMINENT**
It occurred to me after my previous expostulations that another thing I don’t like about that stupid 50p coin is that it’s trashy-looking. I’ve said this under the article in the National about it too – please forgive – but it looks as if They have outsourced the Royal Mint’s monopoly on coinage to the Franklin Mint instead.
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It looks like these coins you get at Christmas in a net bag. I wonder if it’s made of chocolate, and its a way of feeding the population when the food runs out?
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Tris, that Ulster tattoo and your comment about spelling – is that because they missed out the letter “s” in the middle word just above the crown?
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The letter “s”, shurely? Or shurely not.
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Spot on, ed! – I made an rs of it 😦
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I’ve changed it, Andi, as it was so obviously a typo… I mean I know you know how to spell arse LOL.
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It’s the guy who did the tattoo who didn’t know how to spell arse, Tris 🙂
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LOL I know… what a complete… are.
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andimac, I always remember one fae the Herald from about twenty years ago. A guy got a King Billy on the white horse tattoo. Below it was the immortal words, “No Surrender 1960”.
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Oh that’s just too funny. Sharking with laughter here… What a tube.
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Perhaps an ‘s’ could fit in there somewhere? Just close to where andimac suggested?
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Too late!
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And now sorted!!!! 🙂
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Don’t start me, just don’t start me!
However, I will look forward to my nice blue passport with a Saltire on the front.
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Me too… and hopefully the words.
Republic of Scotland …preferably in Scots and Gaelic.
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*What kulcher is that then* Yours, mine or ‘are’s’
It’s so tricky all this Breafkast nonsesnse.
Yon coinage’ll no fit in the vending mashenes, whit er they thinking..
OK, had my fun. Thanks so much! 😀 😀 😀 😀
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LOL It’s funny using the word “culture” with that beefhead in mind.
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I just wish they would stop stamping various designs and Lizzies fizzer on British coins and make them flat instead. This would mean that folk like me who like to make stuff could drill a hole in the middle and make washers out of them.
Not only would this be useful and make perfect financial sense but it would also save having jars full of loose change lying about the house. They’ve shut most of the bank branches in my area after all, so I can’t even bag and bank it to convert it into useable money anymore without a 10 mile journey and associated costs. Parking etc
There must be millions of pounds nationwide cluttering up peoples houses in various containers. Imagine the chaos we would cause if we all insisted on using up our loose change buying the shopping in Tescos etc.. The checkouts would be at a standstill.
I know I’m probably starting to ramble on now but it does strike me as a tad irksome that I hand over my folding and in exchange receive the purchased goods (fair enough) but also get a handful of assorted metal that isn’t at all convenient to use and ends up in the aforementioned container for a rainy day. Don’t get me wrong I’m not complaining that I don’t have to account for every penny I’m probably fortunate compared to some but there just might be some kind of a con job in all this.
I think it’s probably time to bite the bullet and go completely plastic, I mean, there’s a limit to the amount of washers one person can actually use.
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My mate has just done a masters in Sweden. When he first went there (after a few weeks) we were chatting one night and I asked him what the Swedish Krona looked like.
He said he had no idea as you paid for everything with cards or by phone.
It’s the future. It will just take the UK a long long time to catch up.
One thought though. You could always hump your coins along to the nearest foodbank. There is bound to be a food bank closer than a bank branch!
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Kinda sad that teaching kids about saving will disappear without cash! Anyway, living rural is impossible without cash so yes, a guid while yet before it disappears!
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Yes. It will be hard for young children, which is why cash will never REALLY disappear. I mean 7 year olds off to buy a bar of chocolate will hardly take a credit card with them… So we can still teach them to not spend all their pocket money.
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I think Fun Boy Three said it best
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if I’ve time, I sense another brief musical interlude coming on. That will teach Ed Freeman to get over 🙂
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take over ffs
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Bang on.
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PS… No, it won’t, PP!
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Harrumph.
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🙂
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Surely more suitable slogans for brexit day would be “Rearranging The Deckchairs” or “Without A Paddle”.
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True, true.
I just saw an ad for the lastest “spoof” Ladybird Book.
The Ladybird Book of People who F***ed the Country and Ran Away
With David Cameron centre on the cover.
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Yes! We have no bananas.
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(or, indeed, anything else. Can I interest you in some rats’ tails?)
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50p is the new pound and that’s all it will be worth after Brexit.
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If that.
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I thought it was that Pounds would end up like Yen.
Inflation (as measured by the price of a bag of chips) has been heading that way, after all.
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Or, do you remember Lira?
One cup of coffee (albeit on St Mark’s Square listening to the orchestras… IL 4,500!
Honestly, you felt like a millionaire, splashing 4,500 on a coffee.
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I’m kinda wishing it was a 27p piece, rather than a 50p – that would be a celebration of Brexit in so many ways!
😉
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Well content yourself that, if we are really lucky it might be worth 27p… not that there will be much to buy with it.
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Nah, 29p – prime number. Just one part of the 7p, 19p, 59p, 103p and 211p series of coins, and the 509p, 1117p, 2179p, 5839p, etc., notes.
That really would make people switch to plastic pretty damn quick – and to giving the kiddies preloaded cash cards with suitable kiddie scenes on for their pocket money, obviously – never doubt your offsprings’ ability to spend your money!
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LOL
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The German view of Fool English Brexit.
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It’s brilliant!!
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sehr gut!!
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Ausgezeichnet!
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Absolut!
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