Non-hint: it has nothing to do with Mark Twain’s 1893 short story “The Million Pound Bank Note” (also available as a monolithic PDF file).
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For decades I have wanted to visit Edinburgh, Scotland – land of David Hume and Adam Smith and this video has helped me understand proper currency to use when I visit. THANK YOU !
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Alas, again we have an example of ‘Miss Isle of Man’. We also print our own notes and coins. And hit the ATM at the airport or ferry terminal to withdraw UK mainland currency for use ‘across the wet bit/ on the mainland’. (Of course, not being officially part of the UK but rather and independent possession of the monarchy may have something to do with the omission in the lead article. NOTHING to do with Elvis on our £20 note.)
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Yes, the status is completely different. Scotland and Northern Ireland, as parts of the UK, use the British pound as their currency, and their banks issue their own bank notes which are backed by Bank of England banknotes (the famous million and hundred million pound) notes deposited with that bank. This was the case in England and Wales as well before a series of bank failures resulted in Parliament banning banks in those territories from issuing their own notes. But the practice continued in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The Isle of Man, however, as an independent country not part of the UK, issues its own government bank notes denominated in Isle of Man pounds, a separate currency which is maintained at parity with the British pound and may be exchanged for Bank of England bank notes at any office of the Isle of Man Bank (and, in practice, at most other banks in the Island). Unlike the Scottish and Irish notes, Isle of Man banknotes are not legal currency in the UK and cannot be spent there.
The Isle of Man pound is, unlike the Scotland and Northern Ireland notes, not backed by a deposit in the Bank of England. Thus, parity with the British pound is maintained only by the responsibility of its issuer and the guarantee to redeem Manx currency for Bank of England notes at par. The total amount of Manx currency that can be issued is set by an act of the Tynwald.
This kind of currency peg is not unusual. Many countries in the Americas use the U.S. dollar alongside their own currencies which, in some countries such as the Bahamas, Bermuda, Barbados, and Belize, are pegged to the U.S. dollar at a fixed rate and may be exchanged for U.S. dollars at any bank.
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Because every joke (fiat currency) needs a punch line (ridiculously high notes)? What’s the difference between Monopoly™ money and the British Pound (or any other currency on this planet)?
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Monopoly money still buys you as many houses or hotels on Whitechapel Road or Park Lane as it did in 1935. The British pound, not so much.
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HAHA!!! Good one John. Even the funny money is more sound than the “state backed currency.”
During the American War Between the States, counterfeiters of Confederate money would often times get caught because their prints were too GOOD!! Now a days a counterfeiter might get caught because the fake actually holds its value for longer than a quarter.
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