First it was the campaign to put a woman on the $20 bill to replace Andrew Jackson. Now the news that the planned $10 bill redesign will see a woman potentially replace Alexander Hamilton. While it makes sense to introduce a woman on a bill that's planned for a redesign, it does stick in the craw to think that the father of the American financial system will have a reduced presence while Jackson, who didn't even like paper currency, remains on the $20.

So my thought - why not have a man and a woman on each denomination of paper currency, half of each printing for each gender?

$1 - George Washington stays, of course, but is joined by Martha Washington. She's the obvious choice, both for being the first First Lady and for already appearing on a $1 note.

$2 - Thomas Jefferson remains on our least circulated bill, joined by Pocahontas. Like Martha Washington, Pocahontas has appeared on a US paper note, and like Jefferson she is from what is now Virginia, and like Jefferson she spent time in Europe (though for very different reasons).

$5 - Abraham Lincoln is joined on the fin by Harriet Beecher Stowe, for obvious reasons. I went with her over the likes of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton as the latter two opposed the 14th and 15th Amendments (for not providing voting rights to women as well as men of all races). I can understand the rationale, but it seems wrong to pair Lincoln with anyone who was against those amendments.

$10 - Hamilton stays, and is joined by Frances Perkins. Perkins was the first woman in the US Cabinet, and is still the longest serving Secretary of Labor.

$20 - for now we'll keep Jackson here, and pair him with Harriet Tubman, who won the Women on 20s vote. I'd like to think that would annoy Jackson to no end.

And if we wanted to dump Jackson, we could pair Tubman with another figure from abolition, like Frederick Douglass or William Lloyd Garrison.

$50 - If we're looking for a military counterpart to Grant, the obvious choice here would be Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, whose contributions to computer science include writing the first compiler, developing the language COBOL, and coining the term debugging.

$100 - I would pair Ben Franklin with Eleanor Roosevelt, as both played roles in international diplomacy and both were known for work in newspapers. Not the strongest connection, but I think it's enough.

Book Log 2015 #16: Head of State by Andrew Marr 

It's 2017, and the UK is facing a referendum on whether or not to stay in the European Union. The factions, headed by the prime minister (pro-EU) and an opposition MP (anti-EU), have allowed an eminent historian unhindered access to both campaigns. At least until something shocking happens, and factions within the government unleash their own plots for the looming election, often at the expense of those who may know too much.

This is the first stab at fiction for Marr, who is a well-known political commentator in the UK. His knowledge of politics and media show through, but the book is let down by its attempt to be both straight and humorous, as it's never successful enough at either to really work. The story is pretty inventive, though, so kudos are due there.

It's also worth noting that the referendum is likely to happen in real life - the Conservatives committed to one by the end of 2017 in their platform for the 2015 general election. It will hopefully entail less murder than what's in the book.

Book Log 2015 #15: The Marco Effect by Jussi Adler-Olsen

Things are changing for Carl Morck and Department Q, and not in a good way. A rival of Carl's is now overseeing the department and has saddled the team with a new member loyal to the rival, and Carl's long-term romantic plans take a sudden detour. But they do manage to get a new case, one involving the death of a government bureaucrat and possible financial misdealing by a government agency and a bank. The key to the case? A teenaged Roma boy (the Marco of the title) who has to avoid his vengeful clan and various hired guns to get what he knows to the authorities - whom he barely trusts.

This installment in the series is more of a conventional thriller - there seems to be a Marco-driven chase scene in every other chapter - but it's still solid. I would have liked a little more progress on the series-spanning plots, which get much less time than in the previous book, but there are new issues- Assad's recovery from injuries sustained in the previous book, and a potential romantic entanglement between Rose and the department's new member - which add something for each character.

In any case, I did enjoy this and continue to recommend the series.