Report for Enquiring Minds meeting, Tuesday 23rd June 2026
It is the intention of the Bank of England to change the design of all bank notes, partly to update them and, more importantly, in increase security and deter counterfeiting. To this end, the bank is encouraging the public to join in the discussion in the selection of icons or symbols. To avoid any embarrassment (“Stoaty McStoatface”), a short list of 18 wildlife creatures in 3 categories have presented, with the public invited to select 2 from each category.
We decided to base the first part of this month’s meeting on producing our own entry: discussion on the merits/suitability of each creature, culminating in a PR single transferable voting system to refine our choice.
We began the discussion by defining what it means to be English/British: a sense of fairness, an innate kindness and consideration for community, and stoicism were suggested factors; British humour and British reserve were mentioned, as was class – still prevalent; also an observance of Christian values, albeit in an increasingly secular/multi-cultural country.
This last factor may have been a motivating element to introduce a neutral and culture-free wildlife list, moving away from more divisive figures of royalty, politics and war.
A slideshow was presented with all 18 short-listed creatures and we each stated our preferences with reasons for our choices. These ranged from the creatures’ attraction (beauty and colour); an emotional association (cute, cuddly, powerful, elegant); or a familiarity or accessibility. We voted using PR and an independent vote-counter used a single transferable voting method to refine the choices, which were as follows:
Category 1 – Mammals – Brown Hare & Hedgehog
Category 2 – Birds – Barn Owl & Kingfisher
Category 3 – Insects, Fish and Amphibians – Bumblebee & Emperor Dragonfly.
In the second part of the meeting we offered our own personal preferences: some interesting suggestions included National Parks landscapes, iconic British cars, sailing ships like galleons and clippers, equipment representing sports originating in Britain (football, rugby, tennis, cricket, golf); scientific achievements, in particular the structure of DNA, native flowers, the iconic robin and the common ant, celebrating their intricate and complex behaviours like advanced communication and ecosystem maintenance.
While this session was relatively light-hearted, it was also extremely thought-provoking. Thanks to everyone’s contributions.