IN 1976 Bjorn Ulvaeus co-wrote one of ABBA’s most iconic hit singles about Money, Money, Money in a rich man’s world.
Which made it especially surprising that, four decades later, he was at the forefront of a campaign to ban all cash from his native Sweden.
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Little more than a year ago I had breakfast with the pop giant in Stockholm, where he explained how his passion for a cashless society grew after his son’s house was twice broken into for items then sold for cash on the black market.
Bjorn’s brilliant ABBA museum, which I had visited the day before, was entirely cashless, as were many of the city’s large chain stores and restaurants.
You certainly weren’t going to be stuck with any cab drivers pretending their card machine had broken, either.
Cash in Sweden has become associated with crime, tax evasion and — here’s the most important point for this moment in history — bad hygiene.
Handling cash has even been raised by some unions in the country as a “work environment problem”.
But as a cash traditionalist, who always carried around a wallet full of notes and coins just in case, I reasoned that such a movement in Britain was highly unlikely. After all, I was delighted when this newspaper campaigned successfully for the retention of the humble penny.
However, my position has shifted 180 degrees over the past month as the world grapples to cope with the spread of coronavirus.
In fact, I am now certain my lifelong affair with cash is over.
Since the breakout of this pandemic I refuse to carry any cash at all.
I’ve moved to a slim credit card holder that I sanitise about twice a day.
That’s not going to change when all of this is finally over.
Traces of cocaine
The world has woken up to just how unhygienic so much of our daily lives can be — and no example is more stark than the cash we pass between ourselves thousands of times on a weekly basis.
Bank notes and coins carry up to 19 types of bacteria, according to scientists at the London Metropolitan University.
That includes listeria and two potentially life-threatening superbugs — MRSA and VRE.
Other studies have also shown notes all too often contain traces of cocaine and faecal matter too.
And overall they’re dirtier than a household toilet bowl, which we go to great lengths to avoid touching.
What’s more, notes can allow some viruses and bacteria to live for up to a fortnight.
The bugs have even adapted to thrive on metal, meaning UK scientists say coins are now, “a breeding ground for harmful bacteria”.
That breeding ground will now most likely include Covid-19.
Banks made a positive step this week by increasing the rate of contactless card transactions from £30 to £45.
The Government needs to step in by doing things such as stopping smaller shops that continue to ban the use of cards for purchases of less than £5.
Only 30 per cent of transactions today involve cash.
Forecasters predicted before Covid-19 that by the end of the decade cash would account for just one in ten transactions.
Of course, there’s a lot of work to be done.
We have to think about older people who don’t like using cards or their phone, market stallholders and the homeless.
But Sweden shows that technology can make that sea change possible.
And we better get used to it, because coronavirus makes the march towards a cashless society even more inevitable.
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Don't forget heroes keeping the UK fed
I WAS struck by one of those coronavirus-era quotes posted on the window of a shop this week that read: “Health care workers, grocery store employees and truck drivers are now more important than pro athletes, actors and famous musicians.”
While there has rightly been much consternation about the lack of personal protective equipment available to our NHS heroes, there has been far less concern about the conditions our supermarket staff and delivery drivers are having to work in.
On my talkRADIO Drivetime show, an anonymous whistleblower from one of Britain’s biggest supermarket chains called me to reveal social distancing is NOT happening at the back of the stores where workers are forced together to sort out deliveries.
“Most people aren’t wearing gloves. Nobody’s wearing masks. If you want those things, ‘Fine, bring them in’. As if you can buy them anywhere.
“Before that they didn’t want you doing it because they didn’t want the image of a delivery driver looking like a hospital worker,” he added.
I have great sympathy for the supermarkets and online delivery services that are currently being pushed to the brink.
But the supply chain only works if their brave staff continue to show up for work every day. It is imperative these mega companies look after them by instituting social distancing measures both within the stores and behind the scenes – and ensure backroom staff have a steady supply of gloves, masks and hand sanitiser.
These workers are keeping society running and the nation fed – and I love them for it, far more than any pop star or TV presenter.
Slaw is odd
THERE are many reasons a knighthood looks increasingly unlikely for David Beckham by this point.
But his latest revelation should seal the deal.
On Instagram, the former footballer showed he eats bangers and mash with . . . coleslaw mixed with gravy.
No, sir.
PUTIN A SPOT
THERE are fears for Vladimir Putin after it emerged that the 67-year-old recently shook hands with a top doctor who has since tested positive for coronavirus.
The obvious step would be for the Russian leader to now be tested too.
But how on earth would we know he hadn’t rigged the result?
Silly ghouls
ROBBIE WILLIAMS has said ghosts have recently stopped visiting him.
Things are getting really extreme now if even the spirits are social distancing.
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