Test Equipment Anonymous

All large stores and almost all small shops in the UK take card payments and some prefer it. There are several traders and establishments which prefer cash or barter; scrap dealers, farmers and there are others more on the margins of society.

At swapmeets a few sellers are geared up for card. Everyone will take cash. I'm not sure you can get in by card payment. If you go to one, having a stash of coin of the realm is a good idea.

I'm immensely distrustful of the notion of a cashless society.

Zenith wrote: ↑Tue Oct 13, 2026 9:16 pm I'm immensely distrustful of the notion of a cashless society.

Quite. It relies on computers, which we all know to be as leaky as a sieve. Further, I get seriously hacked off waiting in a queue behind some idiot who has elected to pay their entry fee electronically instead of bringing the (known) entry fee in coin or notes of the realm. Even if you require change, it only takes a moment for the doorkeeper to scoop the appropriate change from their bowl of cash. Footling around with digital links and authorisation is simply unnecessary and insulting to everyone else. It's as bad as writing a cheque. And people would get seriously stroppy about that.

The banks (like all other commercial enterprises) are offloading their costs onto their customers. As an example, we now have a router thingy that does telephone over Internet. But can we switch it off when we're not using it? Oh no. British Telecom treats that as a fault. So we're supplying the electricity 24/7 (for free) for their equipment. And it runs quite warm. The same is true when you make payments using your mobile 'phone; you are paying for the data transfer.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... ister-2026
The National Risk Register outlines the most serious risks facing the United Kingdom

Banking and other financial infrastructure features too prominently. Unsurprisingly the government recommends keeping food and cash at home, just in case.