Letter: Clipped wings

Sir: Referring to the Chancellor's apparent aversion to birds on coins, Robin Ollington (Letters, 15 February) cites the use of a bird on the coinage of Guernsey. He might have pointed to an example even closer to home - the late farthing. This coin, the smallest British denomination, aptly portrayed the wren, our smallest British bird. Perhaps Mr Lamont's real aversion is to any reminder of the fate of the farthing, extinct these thirtysomething years, after an unequal battle with inflation.

Yours faithfully,

JOHN CLARK

Oxford

15 February