Tabloid money… the “Covid panic” is ushering in a cashless society

● It is “usually best to ignore” the Duke and Duches sofS ussex’s proclamations, says

Ross Clar kint he Daily Express. But Harry’s latest charge, that the developed world is “somehow depriving the developing world of vaccines”, is offensive. Yes, more people have been vaccinated in developed countries. But Britain has so far donated £548m to Covax, the body responsible for distributing vaccines to the developing world. And it has already sent nine million doses of the 100 million it ple dgedto donate by June next year, while the AstraZeneca vaccine has been licensed for production in India.

That means the vaccine can be accessed “at much lower prices than… if it were produced in Europe”. Having fail ed tof ind a “meaningful role” outside of royal life, Harry (pictured) is now “behaving like a Hollywood star – without the dazzle but with a double-helping of hubris”.

● TheF inanc ial Reporting Council (FRC) regulator has made a formal complaint against KP MG and severa lofi ts partners, says Alex Brummer in the Da ily Mail. The accountant allegedly gave the FRC “false and misleading” information when it audited construction group Carillion and Regenersis, a software firm, in 2016 and 2014 respectively. This comes in addition to the ongoing probe into the events preceding Carillion’s demise in 2018. KPMG has been in the spotlight for a long time. It was embroiled in the 2008 financial crisis than ksto“flawed audits” at HBOS and Co-op Bank. Its performance at Ted Bake r, M&C Saatchiand Silentnight is also under scrutiny – its litany of failures reads “like a Who’s Who of business”.

● “Are they trying to abolish cash?” wonders Peter Hitchens in The Mail on Sunday. It seems so. The “Covid panic” gave rise to the idea that cash spreads disease, which led to higher limits on contactless payment and the rise of shops and pubs that now “look shocked” if offered cash. Getting banknotes gets harder everyday as cash machines and banks disappear. The next stage will be that shops only accept payment through smartphones. This may all sound desirable to those “tidy, glinting people who think that all change is progress”. But I loathe the idea of purchases being monitored. The cashless society represents “a big step towards a Brave New World of surveillance, dependency and a total lack of privacy or real control over your own life”.