http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7593162.stm




I remember once I was at a travel agency in Brighton. In order to travel by car in Europe I had to buy 6 different currencies, and thus pay 6 different commissions.
I complained about that with the cashier and I said: "luckily soon we'll have the Euro in Europe, thus I'll have to pay only one commission."
She replied very bitter: "The Euro is going to be a weak currency anyway"
Who was right, madam? The Euro is now one of the strongest currencies in the World.

Isn't it time for Britain to join the Euro?

Just do what I did....move from England to Ireland

Unless the UK is forced to join I can not see any future government adopt the Euro in the forcible future. It will just be too much of a vote killer for our gutless politicians.

It is quite simple, actually. They should do it at the beginning of a legislation.
By the following general election people will have forgotten it and possibly realized that joining the Euro was actually good for Britain.

The UK goverment tends to often see things differently from the rest of Europe (Iraq for example) and I think the Pound Euro differention is a reminder of that which I don't think is going to go away anytime soon. Not until the UK goverment gets along better with it's European neighbours.

Also remember a weaker Pound isn't necessarily bad all round. It's better for exports, isn't it, which I think can help economic growth in this tough time.

1.00 GBP = 1.22896 EUR (from xe.com from time of posting)

Not over taken it just yet

Yes, that is true, but there must be a healthy balance between too weak and too strong. If a currency is too weak, all imports will be terribly expensive and the population will suffer.
As the BBC says, a very low currency means recession:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7591563.stm





Yes, but the Pound is at a record low against the Euro anyway. See above.

Not worth jumping ship over, however

But that is not the only point, PM.
Suffice to say that the Euro has given Italy a stable economy we didn't dream of when we had the Lira (the previous currency).
The good thing about the Euro is that it is ruled by economists, not politicians.

[OT]excuse me?!?!? where do you live man?
on te contrary, people got poor due the prices speculation given by a bad manage of the switch between the two, all's gone out of control[/OT]

i doubt britain with drop pounds anytime soon

Yes Lord, but that has absolutely nothing to do with a healthy economy. That is because 50% of Italians are thieves and robbers (the same who vote for Berlusconi who was in charge when the Euro was introduced and did absolutely nothing to keep prices under control).
However the market laws will adjust everything in the end: people don't have money and don't buy. Prices have to go down and wages up.

I am already beginning to see some incredibly low prices, lower even than at the time of the Lira.

The penguin in the velvet smoking jacket with the pipe speaks the truth!

To be honest I don't really care so long as I can buy as much beer as I do now with pounds.

I'm really suprised Sweeden and Denmark still use their own currencies... so annoying...

Do you buy British beer or foreign? Foreign is bound to be more expensive, I am afraid.

Perhaps switching to the Euro will be beneficial in the future, but as I see it, now is not the time to switch

Right, probably when everybody else has already switched

Haha, yeah

What I really meant was the state of the global economy - now is not the time to change currencies!

I tend to agree. With the UK economy heading towards a recession and inflation double what it should be, I think this is not the right time to decide to take the queen's face off all our notes.

Well, probably right now Britain wouldn't even meet the criteria for joining.

Harsh words for the person that actually started the topic.

Not really. The Euro joining criteria are not one man's opinion, they are facts which can (and indeed do) get measured.