Ah, but that doesn’t satisfy the incisive “We should have the queen on our banknotes” argument. Of course, she’s been on them for less than fifty years, but some people seem to think it’s a tradition which goes back to 1066 or something.
But isn’t a series of bridges that never existed as good as her Maj?
What are the advantages of the Euro, though? The main one that seems to be put across is that travellers won’t have to change currencies when travelling in Europe. BFD :rolleyes:.
It seems asking the question “why won’t the UK join the Euro” is the wrong question. A better one would be “what’s so great about the Euro that the UK should join”?
There’s the cost of uncertainty to businesses due to short-term currency fluctuation, for one thing (you contract to sell at 1 Euro a pop, then the Euro plummets against your currency). Don’t really buy that argument myself, because companies can hedge to protect themselves, at a much smaller cost.
Well there’s that, which is in fact bloody handy, but it allows a more contiguous B2B trading mechanism between those countries. I work for a company that sells to several currency areas, and the exchange rate has to be set at the beginning of the year. If the £ falls, as it is at the moment, we can’t adjust the exchange rate on printed materials, so are losing a lot of profit. If we were all in euro, the price would remain fixed, and all parties would be able to recognise value - even in B2B there’s a strong human component involved.
The main one would be a major streamlining of intracontinental trade. Currency conversion adds a step to every “UK<–>everywhere else” transaction. Also, one side or the other is going to build up a foreign trade deficit.
Simply put, it increases the efficiency of foreign trade.
It also provides a damper effect against major fluctuations. Conditions that would normally cause runaway inflation (or even deflation) in Britain won’t, because the currency will still be tied to everyone else’s economy.
I think the reason for adopting the Euro is the same as for joining the European Union. Throw in your lot with your trade partners and as a consequence everyone is stronger. No? Germany and France both have larger economies than the UK, are both Euro land members, and both have fairly strong cultural identities (do I win something for understatement of the day?).
I think the bit about advantage to travellers is more for spin than an actual selling point. Do you really think the third- and fourth-largest economic entities in the world changed their currency to save a few tourists five minutes in line at the Exchange kiosk?
There’s also the issue that we sort-of tried it before: the Tories joined the European Exchange Rate Mechanism which basically (and I’m grossly simplifying - see Wiki) kept the member currencies within very tight pre-defined variations of each other. Even after the bands were relaxed, the ERM failed very badly for the U.K. on Black Wednesday. This spelled disaster for the Tories; the current Labour government likely does not wish to risk repeating the exercise.
Germany yes, but France? By what measure?
Not by GDP.
Many years ago, I was watching “The Prime Minister’s Questions” on whatever cable channel it is that shows if over here, and one MP was arguing against the Euro based on the the fact that it would cost Marks and Spencer some ungodly sum of pounds to convert all their tills and cash registers.
Yes, you get twits who think this kind of thing is a killer argument, and they’re a bit of an embarassment to both sides of any serious debate.
Especially since businesses all over London accept Euros now anyway.
By measure of outdated statistics (2000). 
Here is a more current ranking from our ol’ friends at the CIA: World’s largest economies.
1 World…$ 65,820,000,000,000 2007 est.
2 European Union…$ 14,440,000,000,000 2007 est.
3 United States…$ 13,860,000,000,000 2007 est.
4 China…$ 7,043,000,000,000 2007 est.
5 Japan…$ 4,305,000,000,000 2007 est.
6 India…$ 2,965,000,000,000 2007 est.
7 Germany…$ 2,833,000,000,000 2007 est.
8 United Kingdom…$ 2,147,000,000,000 2007 est.
9 Russia…$ 2,076,000,000,000 2007 est.
10 France…$ 2,067,000,000,000 2007 est.
Thanks. And although not the point you were making, it’s probably worth noting that if you make a comparison per capita, Germany and Britain have very similar economic strength, with France still not far behind.
Also moot because M&S already converted their tills to euro in the Republic of Ireland. And (to bolster my arguments) got caught out marking stuff up heavily in the currency change even though they pledged not to do it.
Mind you, the above “change the tills” argument is often used on the SDMB when any change to US currency is brought up too…
Yes, and how persuasive it seems to be for some people, too. Pick a figure, multiply it by 10, claim that’s the cost and someone will swallow it.
I bet there’s plenty of tills in border regions of Mexico and Canada which cope with US dollars plus another currency. And don’t forget Cuba…
I have a fond memory of seeing a counter at a Luxembourg service station which had a line of several tills just to hold all the different currencies they would both accept and give as change.
I can’t speak for Mexico or Cuba, but based on my retail experience in Canada, there is little to no need to have special tills. Any American currency received is put aside, and taken to the bank on the next bank run. It is not necessary for US currency to be handy in the till, since it is never given back in change. At least it never was in my experience, and I’ve never heard of it being so–even if US currency is tendered for a purchase, change is given in Canadian currency. With the possible exceptions of things like international bridge and tunnel tolls, and duty-free shops at the border, our tills accommodate our currency alone.
There are plenty of places (banks, casinos, hotels, etc.) willing to exchange US dollars for Canadian, however, as well as Canadian to US; and exchange bureaus will change between those and many other currencies besides. But generally, the American who uses greenbacks to make a purchase will receive Canadian currency in change. No special till required.
Yes, this was exactly my point. The changeover to the Euro was similar, in that it was done overnight, and from the first day all change was given in the new currency, no matter what had been tendered. The historical Luxembourg example I gave was an exception to this, because multiple currencies were also given as change.
Since WW2, Germany has been very friendly to anything that smells like international cooperation. “Germany” was only formed in 1871, and re-unified in 1990. I wouldn’t say they have an identity that is tied to their government or to their collective independence but more to their culture.