We mustn't let cash be snatched out of our hands forever

IT IS nearly two years since Charles III ascended the throne and by now his face ought to be staring back at us every time we open our wallets or purses.

- ROSS CLARK

Notes and coins bearing his image do apparently exist, but I cannot ever remember seeing one and it's not that I live in some backwater cut off from the rest of the economy.

This year, for the first time in recorded history, the Royal Mint will not be minting a single new coin. None is needed, it explains, due to the decreasing use of cash which, according to UK Finance, has collapsed by two thirds in just a decade.

The coins already in circulation, the Mint has decided, will suffice for several more years.

In the case of one pence and two pence pieces, it is possible that no more will ever be minted a penny is now worth less in real terms than a halfpenny was in 1984 when it was taken out of circulation.

Time moves on, of course, but we should think very carefully before we allow cash to vanish from our lives. I am no Luddite and often I choose to pay using a bank card because it is the most convenient way of doing so. But last Friday, we all received a reminder of why we still need cash as an option for paying for things.

When a Microsoft upgrade failed, it took down computers systems everywhere in the "large IT outage in history", including those handling payments.