3 DECEMBER 1988, Page 27

What was a fiver?

WHAT a sign of the inflationary times — on the National Westminster's cash machine, a chirpy sticker saying 'No £5 notes'. The machine will deal you £20 and £10 notes, but anything less is not worth its while. NatWest says that it is converting most of its machines, but not those used by students, who cannot afford to despise £5 here or there. I now share the sense of shock experienced by a banker friend whose daughter asked him, 'Daddy, what was half a crown?' To me a fiver is a splendid white crackling parchment paral- lelogram — an exhibit, now, in the Bank of England's museum. One remedy for infla- tion is to have notes and coin which feel like money. Evidently, the fiver's supplan- ter is not worth the paper it is printed on.