back to article Life in plastic, with a classic: Polymer £20 notes released into wild sporting Turner art

The Bank of England has started sending out new polymer £20 notes but the old paper ones remain legal tender for now. The note includes a JMW Turner self-portrait with one of his most famous pictures – "The Fighting Temeraire" – in the background. As the UK's most commonly forged note, the new twenty has a bunch of security …

  1. Timbo

    Brexit note?

    I'm really surprised that the govt didn't issue a Brexit-flavoured £20 note....

    It's one thing to issue 3 million 50p coins....which many remainers suggest should be tucked away in a drawer/money box to prevent them entering circulation (or in case Brexiteers wanted to keep them to show how "they" won the referendum/election/whatever).

    But 2 billion plastic £20 note would be very difficult to keep out of circulation....!!

    Think the Tories missed a trick there !!

    1. Charlie Clark Silver badge

      Re: Brexit note?

      Apart from the expense, I think Johnson is keen on burying the whole thing as quickly as possible now that he has another dragon to slay. Now that the UK has left the EU it's no longer got a scapegoat to blame if things don't go well so the script has to be changed.

    2. SkippyBing

      Re: Brexit note?

      It features a picture of HMS Temeraire, not a ship renowned for being part of a pro-European integration movement...

      1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

        Re: Brexit note?

        Somewhat amusingly, the first HMS Temeraire was a French Navy ship, capured by HMS Warspite and brought into the Royal Navy..

        1. Vehlin

          Re: Brexit note?

          And the name of a dragon of course.

    3. Ken 16 Silver badge
      Holmes

      Brexit-flavoured

      What does Brexit taste like?

      I can imagine what it smells like, but scratch-n-sniff counterfeit protection is at least a decade off.

  2. Mark 85

    El Reg Standards

    Congrats on them using the Standards. Perhaps it's the beginning of movement to proper measurements.

  3. 89724102172714182892114I7551670349743096734346773478647892349863592355648544996312855148587659264921

    A much appreciated feature would have been colour changing dye indicating bad coke and another dye at the edges indicating corvid-19

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Only one of the indicators is truly useful. I'll leave to personal requirement as to which should remain.

  4. TRT Silver badge

    Ah! What flavour is this one?

    Lamb, perhaps?

  5. Dr. Ellen
    Devil

    Offensive?

    These notes contain tallow, and are therefore offensive to vegetarians, Hindus, and a whole other bunch of people. Why not do it thoroughly? Use pork fat. That way you can offend everybody.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Offensive?

      Ummmm, bacon. What? Oh sorry, ..

    2. Brian Miller

      Re: Offensive?

      No, use criminals on death row for a source of tallow. That's sure to offend far more people!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Offensive?

        I have heard the argument that Brexit will bring back the death penalty (and smoking in pubs) but pretty sure that's currently still illegal.

        1. LucreLout

          Re: Offensive?

          I have heard the argument that Brexit will bring back the death penalty (and smoking in pubs) but pretty sure that's currently still illegal.

          Is this what remainers do now? Sit around in wine bars and try to out do each other with the most ridiculous Brexit scare story they can conjure up? Really?

          I've never smoked but was against the smoking ban in pubs. That argument seems settled to me - no point in forever trying to re-fight lost battles - I just don't see it coming back now. There might be a relaxation for private members clubs one day, but I can't see any demand for over turning the smoking ban. I should imagine most people who didn't want the ban are in much the same mindset as me, and may now oppose any attempt to scrap the ban.

          The death penalty simply isn't a vote winner. The country is too split on the issue so most governments will think that its best just left alone.

        2. OssianScotland

          Re: Offensive?

          Is it not the death penalty FOR smoking in pubs?

    3. IGotOut Silver badge

      Re: Offensive?

      If Vegans knew what used tallow in their production, they really would have to live in a hermits cave.

      Hint, it's a bloody good lubricant for use on metal work tooling.

      1. EVP

        Re: Offensive?

        Uh, tallow is being used when producing new vegans?

        Well, since it’s a good lubricant, why not...

        1. OGShakes

          Re: Offensive?

          I upset vegans by pointing out their organic fruit and veg uses animal products as fertiliser...

          1. TRT Silver badge

            Re: Offensive?

            I understand that the old cotton £20s are recycled as soil improver.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Offensive?

              I read that as dot cotton

              1. TRT Silver badge

                Re: Offensive?

                Poor, retired to Ireland, Dot Cotton. She'll be missed.

          2. ICL1900-G3

            Re: Offensive?

            Well, clever old you. It's good to see witty repartee is still with us.

    4. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

      Re: Offensive?

      Use pork fat. That way you can offend everybody.

      Except non-vegetarians, non-muslims and non-Jews..

      Other than that, everyone.

    5. phuzz Silver badge

      Re: Offensive?

      Why not use the left-overs from liposuction? It's not beef or pork, so there won't be any religious problems, and technically it's not an animal product, so the militant vegans shouldn't get annoyed either.

      I'm a bloody genius me :)

      1. hplasm
        Happy

        Re: Offensive?

        "Why not use the left-overs from liposuction?"

        Imagine Whirled Peas!"

  6. ukgnome

    Waiting for the gammon to spout

    They are an absolute bugger to wipe your arse on - give me a proper British paper note any day and not one of these foreign feeling wipe clean efforts.

    1. Ken 16 Silver badge
      Stop

      money saving tip

      Until pulp supplies from Sweden have tariffs applied next year, toilet paper is still cheaper than £20's.

      1. Arthur the cat Silver badge

        Re: money saving tip

        toilet paper is still cheaper than £20's

        Maybe not when covid-19 hits.

        1. Richard Crossley
          Pirate

          Re: money saving tip

          Tell me about it, toilet paper is being stolen in armed robberies now.

          The 2020 Mong Kok Toilet Paper Heist

  7. Roj Blake Silver badge

    141 Double Decker Buses

    Laden, or unladen?

    1. hplasm
      Coat

      Re: 141 Double Decker Buses

      Bin Laden?

    2. Androgynous Cow Herd

      Re: 141 Double Decker Buses

      OVER 9200 LINGUINE!

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    £20

    That'd be about three 'Boris Bucks' after the crash...

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