Jonathan Swift said that a true genius could be recognised when all the dunces were in confederacy against him. What, then, of a technology that brings together a confederacy of paranoiacs? The prospect of a cashless society – the end of physical money – brings together a diverse coalition of opponents. The paranoid right sees it as socialism by stealth and the harbinger of a socialist world government. The paranoid left sees it as the project of an authoritarian corporate state, an endgame after which the banks will really have our number, as well as every other scrap of information about us.
It’s inspiring to see people put aside their many differences and agree like that. But what does it mean? That at last emptying our pockets of coins and notes is genius, or not? Whatever the answer, it’s happening, and faster in Britain than in much of the rest of the developed world. Cash use is dropping steeply, down 14% over the past five years, according to the British Retail Consortium. Research by the Halifax bank this year found that only £17.99 in every £100 is spent in cash, down £3.03 on 2013. Contactless card payment is overcoming the idea that plastic is only for big purchases. The banks are pushing smartphone payment apps, such as Barclay’s Pingit. I was last paid for a piece of writing with another piece of writing, a cheque, in 2012; PayPal is more common now. London’s buses went cashless in July. Retailers and the state are working together on pilot projects that eliminate coins and notes, such as a cash-free day at a shopping street in Chorlton, Manchester, in June.
Frictionless spending is why my Kindle is loaded with quarter\-read books on topics that interested me for 30 minutes
