BRITAIN finds itself jolted out of its general detachment over the single currency today by the disclosure that the Queen's head will be banned from the Euro banknotes - if we ever join in.

This decision is manna from heaven for the euro-sceptics and, in particular, Conservative leader William Hague.

To them, it is proof of how much authority and sovereignty we will surrender to Europe if we join. Yet, is their protest not a little over-hyped? To begin with, we are not in the single currency yet at all and, secondly, its establishment was agreed at Maastricht when the party leading the protesting today was in government.

Nonetheless, this decision to exclude national symbols from the Euro notes, has perhaps served to shake the country out of its complacency over the prospect of the single currency - which, when it is the greatest issue facing our country in decades, is as it should be.

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