As I was working in Westminster on Friday, I was summoned by a friend to watch a spectacle planned outside Downing Street. Simon McGee, from the Mail on Sunday met up with “Britannia” to present a petition to No. 10 demanding that the decision to drop Britannia from the 50p is reversed. You can read Simon’s version of the morning here.

The Mail on Sunday have the support of 30,000 residents. Britannia couldn’t get her trident past the metal detectors so Simon had to pass on the views of so many himself.

Although Britannia has featured on our coins for some 336 years, she has had some time off for short-run commerative 50p coins. However, continued erosion of our sovereignty and civic pride means that people seek to retain these comparatively small symbols of tradition and nationhood. They are right to campaign against this move by a government who truly believe that history books all start from 1997.