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A News Item/Petition Some May Want To Support

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Old_Geezer | 11:30 Tue 04th Jul 2023 | News
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Maybe Nige will sign this as he will have to keep his wad under his mattress in future.
The problems with a cashless society is that, as we have seen over the past week, Banks can cancel your accounts (and many people have had this happen to them) and then you are stuffed. This will lead to all sorts of problems and multi tier society let alone the forcing of group think.

I think the whole thing needs to be looked at. The Banking licences must come with an obligation to provide anyone with a debit card (no loans or overdraft), transparency on why an account is closed and yes ensuring cash an be used for a reasonable period of time in the future.

This is also one thing we should be in harmony with our European neighbours on.
Thanks OG. Signed
youngmafbog

"The problems with a cashless society is that, as we have seen over the past week, Banks can cancel your accounts"

Even if you used cash rather than cards, you're still going to need a bank account. Unless you demand to be paid in cash and keep it locked away at home.

When you say:

"The Banking licences must come with an obligation to provide anyone with a debit card" are you talking about a card without chip and PIN? How would this benefit those (as in the link) rely on cash?

"Transparency on why an account is closed"

Nothing to do with this thread.

"ensuring cash an be used for a reasonable period of time in the future."

Nothing to do with banks and everything to do with retailers and service providers.

Using cash for me and most people I know is a complete pain. Having to go to a service till, withdraw cash to pay for shopping or petrol or a haircut or whatever....not being able to track your spending...just a massive backward step.
//just a massive backward step. //

No it isn't. It's not an either/or. If you don't want to use cash, fine, but others should have the option.
Nah...shops should be free to implement whatever payment system they like. Let the market decide. If you have shops that have customers that rely on cash, then let them offer cash payments.

For those don't - don't force them to handle cash. Electronic payment are good for business - there's no cashing up, no chance of 'till dipping' and all payments can go straight into an accounting app (eg. Quickbooks).

Not needing cash is also pretty good for the consumer.

Keep legal tender, but don't force businesses to handle cash if it's not appropriate for them.

A bigger worry, MUCH MUCH bigger - is digital apartheid. Where you simply can't life without a smartphone - you can't buy tickets for the train, the cinema, flights, hotels, you can't register for your local car park, library, GP surgery etc. I grew up with smartphones and am very comfortable using them - but for many people not having access to one several compromises their ability to simply exists.

Sorry - off on a tangent there.
I wouldn't want anything to do with GB news under any circumstances. They're the news equivalent of Tommy Robinson.

Just because (if) they get 100,000 signatures, it dfoesnt automatically trigger a parliamentary debate, it means they will be []considered[] for debate.
It's ironic that they say
'These cost you more in the long-run and enable 3rd parties to track you and your spending'
Yeah, and GB news aren't going to keep a record (and possibly sell to third parties) your email address and postcode!

beware
https://boycottgbnews.org/why

Question Author
Cash is more than what shops want to take as payment. (If they wish to turn away custom and allow government control of the citizen, that's their option.) It is also a bigger issue than which news organisation has brought it to one's attention.
The Government/Treasury/Bank of England have no desire to abolish cash.

So it is a bit of a daft petition. 100,000 will sign it, and cash will be still with us in 12 months, and they can claim a victory.

The best result will be to leave things as they are and let everyone have a choice of cash, cards or phone app.
retailers need to be free to choose how to be paid. M&S were one of the last businesses in the UK to take credit cards (not till 2000), and it was a pain: I didn't want one of their own chargecards and didn't want to carry enough cash to shop there. But rather than demand that they change their rules for me, I seldom shopped there, till they came round to my way of thinking

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2000/apr/17/business.personalfinancenews2

Other outlets will have to choose in the same way, but online shopping, Covid restrictions, payment apps etc have all changed the nature of the battlefield.
O_G

How will having cash prevent government control over people? Seeing as the government already has access to so much info on us - we have voter ID, travel cards, car number plate recognition, National Insurance numbers, social media profiles, computer IP addresses...

And the government are pushing ahead with its web surveillance program:

https://www.wired.co.uk/article/internet-connection-records-uk-surveillance#:~:text=A%20government%20effort%20to%20collect,remain%20hidden%20from%20public%20view.&text=The%20UK%20government%20is%20quietly,histories%20of%20millions%20of%20people.

I think automated payments systems are the least of our concerns....especially as the government 100% cannot access our financial data - only the police can...with a warrant.
the trouble with "let the market decide" is that the market always "decides" against the minority... and it does not always know best

lots of people have been left behind by the transition to cashless transaction... there is no reason other than greed and profiteering that they cannot coexist
Zacs...you have got to be kidding?

The world's going nuts!
Elderly people who wish to use cash are hard pressed to find an ATM these days especially if they live in outlying districts. Post Offices have been closed down at an alarming rate also.
Not every one is computer literate so are unable to order things on line so would rather use the local facilities in the hope their cash will be accepted. 33 different apps on offer to pay for your car parking depending where you park.
Most agencies do not consider the aged for any advice by telephone.
Recently we had an issue with ULEZ and had the need to contact several agencies to launch an appeal. We needed DWP, DVLA, and TfL. Almost impossible to speak to anyone on the phone but plenty of recorded messages giving out web site contact addresses. You can't go swimming these day and turn up with admittance cash. You have to pre-book 24 hours in advance and pay by card on-line.
This country is becoming a cashless society and a big brother controlled state. Everything you buy is recorded and tracked and everywhere you drive will be tracked.
I don’t want to see a cashless society but I also don’t see the point of this petition.

And since Zacs has raised the issue, I am also disinclined to support anything championed by GB News. I deplore their opinionated news presentation style and would also do so even if it were balanced left and right or wholly or mainly left.
I see that they and Talk TV are being investigated by Ofcom for it. Although Ofcom have also questioned whether the rules are out of date.
But last week Nigel Farage was allowed to push the apparent untruth that he was being denied a bank account - and speculated that he was being persecuted for his Brexit views.
Whereas a different picture has since emerged
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66097039


The number of bank branches in the UK has halved since 2015. Nearly 5,000 have closed, and there are 12,000 fewer ATMs. So the ability to get cash is getting more and more difficult.

They ought to have a petition about that instead. The loss of services, jobs and choice affects a lot of people.
"I am also disinclined to support anything championed by GB News. I deplore their opinionated news presentation style and would also do so even if it were balanced left and right or wholly or mainly left."

i completely agree. i am disinclined to believe that GB news has any sincere interest in this issue.
But last week Nigel Farage was allowed to push the apparent untruth that he was being denied a bank account -
______________
Did he?
Question Author
No one thing in itself is a solution for increasing government control, so you are looking at it the wrong way around. It is another nail in the coffin. It is allowing attrition of individual freedom.

All the list you give is also problematic, but folk are content not to see the issue and happy to let things slide.

And it's not just a case of automatic payments. As the video mentions, if you get refused access to your wealth because it's just in data form, then with your virtual wealth unavailable you have nothing left to fall back on. How big an incentive for compliance is that ?

The people either speak up and nip things in the bud, or they sleepwalk into a more and more controlled existence. There are more than enough reports of various global power groups pushing for these type of changes worldwide to start to get concerned at compliant governments and politicians asking, "How high ?". Getting them to oppose it publicly can only be a good thing.
// It is allowing attrition of individual freedom. //

Being able to pay by debit card or with an e-wallet using my phone is extending my freedom, not curtailing it.

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