I will not be voting in the ECB poll; I have too much self-respect for that. None of the candidates in the running is a uniquely European figure. Had they cared about identity, the Eurocrats would have proposed Saint Benedict of Norcia as the patron saint of Europe. But they would have had to believe in something: in Christ

The Central Bank has invited Europeans to give their views, until 21 September, on the five series of banknotes for each of the two chosen themes, ‘European Culture’ and ‘Rivers and Birds’. From Maria Callas to Leonardo da Vinci to the kingfisher. Here are the designs