Women on banknotes

I am all in favour of depicting women on our banknotes so long as they are Britannia, Boadicca, Queen Victoria or Florence Nightingale. I would add Mrs Thatcher, but the previous convention seemed to be that they were 'historical' figures, from the 19th century or earlier. As Winston will now adorn the fiver perhaps these things are flexible. The problem is, there are few truly famous women from past ages, and it will only be in the 2200s that we'll start to feature the rich seam of more contemporary achievers. If we have to do it now, let's at least make-up some historic figures rather than keep re-using the two worn-out obscurities we have:-

Ethabell Scrathwick - Leader of the Luton Spoon-planishers strike of 1873, demanding equal wages with knife-grinders and price-controls on Bengal grit, the essential material for her trade, then a monopoly commodity in the hands of the Marquis of Slough. Transported to Australia for 7 years. 

Meena Jones - Daughter of Lascar parents who both worked as stokers for the Red Star Line (and therefore black) she married Hywel Jones of Swansea. She never forgot her maritime ancestry and spent her life providing comfort to wounded sailors. She also cooked them favourite Goan dishes. 

Lily Priestley -  Scientist. She noticed that larks boiled in saline and Orpiment produced a gas she called 'demelancholised air' which she recorded in her journal for 1758 'produced amongst those servants I tested it on great gusts of laughter and joy'. She is credited with discovering Nitrous Oxide but passing the facts to her son, Joseph, as women were not then permitted to be clever. 

Ada Crabbe -  Daughter of a Methodist clergyman, Ada invented sex education in 1894 but was so shocked by what she had discovered she died, still unmarried, shortly after. Her journals were discovered in 1986 and are now held by the Winnie Mandela Cultural Institute in Tottenham. 

Shifting alignments

Three interesting commentaries of the past couple of days have raised more questions than answers. All try to analyse shifts in political support, with no clear direction except perhaps an indication that the hallowed centre ground is shifting about like a possessed planchette beneath the feet of the parties.

First, Ambrose in the Telegraph, ostensibly on Ireland but with a verdict on EMU that should make the Eurozone an enemy of the left everywhere; "An internal devaluation is achieved (under EMU) by forcing unemployment to such excruciating levels that it breaks the back of labour resistance to pay cuts. It is the polar opposite of a currency devaluation that spreads the pain". So paradoxically the European labour movement should support the UK's devaluation of the £ that has kept unemployment low and condemn the effect of EMU on nations such as Greece, Ireland and Spain that has driven unemployment to unprecedented levels. Ambrose ends with a prediction; "Europe’s labour movement is the dog that has not barked in this long crisis. Bark it will."

Secondly, Seamus Milne in the Grauniad, ostensibly on the shift to the left of women voters in the UK but with a lesson on the effects of austerity politics on the sexes. "Crucial to the shift has been the growth of women's employment (often segregated in low-wage and public sector work), and the decline of the traditional family and churches in Europe – but also the rise of the women's movement and the influence of feminism. The importance of paid work in changing women's politics is one reason why there hasn't been a parallel shift in much of the developing world. In Britain women now make up half the trade union movement and have played a central role in recent industrial action, from the mass pensions strike of 2011 to cleaners' walkouts on the London Underground." Adding this to the observation above, it becomes clearer that within the EMU women are bearing the brunt of the economic adjustment - far more than than they are doing in the UK. Opposition to the Euro project should therefore be strongest and fastest growing amongst women voters. 

Thirdly, the Speccie's take on Beppe Grillo as a new Mussolini. "Like fascism, Grillo’s movement is essentially left-wing and in favour of the state sorting things out — the Italian state. But it is against the euro and Europe — and Germany in particular" writes Nicholas Farrell. Other commentaries - particularly de Spiegel - dismiss as simplistic the classification of the Grillini as left wing. They're rather on the other axis of the scale. libertarianism vs authoritarianism. And they're young.

If Cameron characterises the typical opponents of the Euro project as middle aged men in polyester blazers he ignores an emerging powerful constituency of educated young women who are facing more than men insecure and poorly rewarded employment, non-existent pensions, the setting back of a century of women's struggle for independence and who are fed up with Cameron's sleek lounge-lizard clique of privileged wealthy metropolitan men. If Farage is not to disappear in the 2015 election, he needs their votes.