The first person thought to have put their own face on currency was the Roman emperor Julius Caesar. It was probably mostly inspired by vanity but his image was also an important form of propaganda. It conveyed to the state and soldiers in his pay that he was in charge. Whoever is on money says something to the people who use money.
Today's banknotes have become an increasingly contentious and powerful tool in displaying who or what is important to a nation's self identity.
This week the UK's Sunday Times newspaper published a letter calling for the Bank of England's next £50 banknote to feature someone from a BAME (black, Asian or minority ethnic) background. The petition was signed by more than 200 politicians, activists and cultural leaders.
I was one of the signatories to the letter, which read: "Ethnic minority communities represent 14 per cent of the British population. We do not lack candidates and arguably their achievements were the greater for having been made at a time when many careers and were effectively closed to them.” The letter also pointed out: “No one from an ethnic minority has yet featured on a banknote.”
It is an important point to make and one that would be a critical recognition of diversity and acceptance by a core British institution at a time when racism and divisions prevail across Europe.
Manchester City player Raheem Sterling has recently spoken about being targeted by racial abuse both from the terraces and and in lopsided media coverage of how he chooses to spend his earnings, compared to white footballers. And earlier this year, UN special rapporteur on racism E Tendayi Achiume said: "A Brexit-related trend that threatens racial equality in the UK has been the growth in the acceptability of explicit racial, ethnic and religious intolerance."
So even while diversity is given lip service, the reality for people of colour is quite different. The Bank of England’s failure to date to be inclusive is an example par excellence. Governor Mark Carney pledged earlier this year to increase diversity among the bank's 4,000-plus staff but when it comes to the actual money it trades in, this has not translated into anything.
When such issues are raised, they typically garner an accusatory response. For example, when writer and broadcaster Afua Hirsch looked at Britain's imperialist past though the prism of race in her book Brit(ish): On Race, Identity And Belonging, she was met with the comment: "Couldn't she summon a smidgen of gratitude for the institutions that have nurtured her?"
The irony is that underpinning many of the pro-Brexit claims have been conversations around re-igniting Commonwealth links and trading with a wider world under the guise of a "global Britain". So the petition rightly asked, in its call for someone from a BAME background to be on the banknote: "What better representation of 'global Britain' could there be?"
This is not the first time British currency has come in for criticism. After £5 notes featuring the prison reformer Elizabeth Fry were withdrawn in 2017, it was pointed out that aside from Queen Elizabeth II, there were no women featured on banknotes. Author Jane Austen was hastily added to the £10 note, with Mr Carney saying: "Our banknotes serve as repositories of the country’s collective memory, promoting awareness of the United Kingdom’s glorious history and highlighting the contributions of its greatest citizens".
Canada is already ahead of the game in featuring individuals from minority backgrounds. Since last month, Viola Desmond has featured on the $10 note. A black civil rights pioneer, she was arrested in 1946 after refusing to leave a whites-only section of a theatre in Nova Scotia and was only pardoned 63 years after her death.
In New Zealand, the $50 banknote featuring Sir Apirana Ngata has been in circulation since 2000. He played a significant role in the revival of Maori culture and was the first Maori to graduate from a New Zealand university as well as sitting as a member of parliament for 38 years.
The hostile responses to the current campaign in the UK speak to a wider implicit racism. Typically, it is framed as a defence of meritocracy. It also includes the back-to-front justification that "you can't pick someone just for their skin colour" – except for the fact that the default position is set to white. And perhaps the most frequently repeated accusation concerns political correctness. But this is not about political correctness; it's about being historically accurate.
Putting a black or ethnic figure on money might be a small gesture but it would make a significant statement. It would mean revered British institutions literally putting their money where their mouth is.
Shelina Janmohamed is the author of Love in a Headscarf and Generation M: Young Muslims Changing the World
The biog
Name: Marie Byrne
Nationality: Irish
Favourite film: The Shawshank Redemption
Book: Seagull by Jonathan Livingston
Life lesson: A person is not old until regret takes the place of their dreams
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Miss Granny
Director: Joyce Bernal
Starring: Sarah Geronimo, James Reid, Xian Lim, Nova Villa
3/5
(Tagalog with Eng/Ar subtitles)
MORE ON IRAN'S PROXY WARS
THE SPECS
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
