BTW: If anyone looks like a Mervyn, its this guy:
Posted on 12/24/2007 9:05:49 AM PST by Brilliant
The British pound hit record lows against the euro on Monday for the second straight day, weighed down by falling home prices and expectations that the Bank of England will keep cutting interest rates.
The euro rose to 72.710 British pence, compared with the earlier record of 72.350 pence from May 27, 2003, according to the daily reference rate of the European Central Bank. That was the lowest since the euro began trading on financial markets in 1999.
Traders seized on data showing that house prices fell 0.3 percent in December from the month before, with the average property staying on the market for more than eight weeks, the longest since the Hometrack survey began in 2001.
The Bank of England cut its key interest rate a quarter-point to 5.5 percent earlier this month amid fears the fallout from the U.S. subprime crisis would hurt economic growth by making it harder for companies and consumers to borrow money. Lower interest rates mean lower yields on some pound-denominated investments and can weigh on its exchange rate.
The pound also drifted lower against the dollar, to $1.9760 from $1.9828.
At least it’s not as bad as the dollar.
Pretty soon Hillar and Bush and Huckabee and Obama and Rudy and Edwards are going to have to take a position and come up with a fix.
This is another issue like illegal immigration and subprimes where the Washington insiders do nothing until it gets out of control, and we will pay.
Fractions of a pence —?
WHat is that worht?
Lesse
Prior to decimalization, the pound was divided into twenty shillings, with each shilling equal to twelve pence, making a total of 240 pence to the pound. The symbol for the shilling was “s” — not from the first letter of the word, but rather from the Latin word solidus.
The symbol for the penny was “d”, from the French word denier, which in turn was from the Latin word denarius (the solidus and denarius were Roman coins).
A mixed sum of shillings and pence such as 3 shillings and 6 pence would be written as “3/6” or “3s 6d” and spoken as “three and six”. 5 shillings would be written as “5s” or, more commonly, “5/-”. There were also coins called crowns, worth 5 shillings, and half crowns, worth 2 shillings 6 pence, florins worth 2 shillings and farthings worth ¼ penny.
The guinea was a gold coin which, between 1717 and 1817 circulated at a value of 21 shillings. Consequently, even after its replacement with the 20 shilling sovereign, an amount of 21 shillings was referred to as “one guinea”. Nicknames for other amounts included tanner for 6 pence, bob for 1 shilling and dollar for 5 shillings.
At decimalization in 1971, the pound was subdivided into 100 new pence, with the word “new” being used on coins until 1981. The symbol for the penny is “p”; hence an amount such as 50p (£0.50) is usually pronounced “fifty p (pee)” rather than “fifty pence”. This also helped to distinguish between new and old pence amounts during the changeover to the decimal system.
So a new P is about 2 US Cents, so the change - under 1% is heardly earth shaking. COmpared to (our now) Dollarette, even smaller.
yawn.
Merry Christmas - youall
BTW: If anyone looks like a Mervyn, its this guy:
Dang, my head hurts.
Sounds like an exscuse to tipple. ;)
Decimalisation was very inflationary as the smallest unit of currency (ignoring the farthing) became 2.4 times larger. Merchants just rounded up.
I agree, it’s time for a dram. Or two!
LOL!
You think? Try adding 2Guineas, 17/6, £4/3/11, 15 Bob, and keep the change from a £10 note!
Mouse here for ans: Total = £7/18/5; change is £2/1/7. Yeah, I'm a big spender. Hey -- it's CHRISTMAS !! ;^)
Easy, Mate!
New Hampshire officially adopted the $US in 1952. By then most were using the $US, and the shillings and Pounds were scarce on the street, but the oldsters could still do the calculations and it kept their minds lively and orderly.
Didya see the news on the cost of a pint? Up to 4 quid a pint!!
The world is coming to an end, I tell ya.
Nothing worse than the lot, sober at last call, walking the streets....
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