Do we really want to go cashless?

Q1. Do you find bank queues inconvenient?

Q2. Would you prefer shorter queues at checkouts in supermarkets?

Q3. Do you ever feel vulnerable carrying cash?

Q4. Do you ever feel insecure using teller machines?

Q5. Do you often find paying with cards more convenient than cash?

Q6. Would you use cards only if you could?

Granted, this is an over-the-top and too obvious example, but the hyperbole is used to suggest a point.

If I were confronted with this survey, it would be difficult for me to answer anything but "yes" to the last question, given that I've answered in the affirmative to everything else. Especially if I were approached by a surveyor in a busy shopping centre, when I'm likely to be in a hurry to move on.

The last question is most likely the key question, which will be cited in the study's results.

That said, there's no reason not to believe that a growing number of people, especially younger people, wouldn't mind seeing the end of cash.

However, even if we accept MasterCard's figures, we also note that perhaps as many as 56 percent of Brits would like to retain the option of using cash. Even among young adults, 38 percent would like to have the same choice.

It is far too early to right off cash. MasterCard's vested interest should make us wary in the way we interpret this or similar studies.

Moreover, we should consider long and hard the social consequences of making spending even less of a deliberative process than it is today.