Decimalisation was a total con, not so much decimalisation per se, but the cunning psychological brainwashing which led up to it.

If the government had created a totally new currency with totally new names, there would have been no problem. The problem was that they retained the old name of the "penny" (although they called it a "new penny"), and retained the old value of the pound.

The old ten shilling note should have been declared the new pound, alright things would have appeared on the face of it to have become twice as expensive, but overnight people would have appeared to have twice as much money as they had previously.

This would have rendered impossible the most outrageous overnight con, which I still vividly remember. The day before decimalisation, a packet of Golden Wonder crisps cost 3d (threepence). That meant that a pound could get you 80 packets of crisps. The day after decimalisation, the same packet cost 3p, so instead of being able to buy 80 packets, your pound could only buy 33 packets.

Not that I was in the habit of bulk-buying crisps, but the same principle applied right across the board regarding items (especially foodstuffs) costing pence rather than pounds.

A total con.