Readers might be interested that a petition has been started to get the Royal Mint to change the new Two Pound Coin design for the 100th Anniversary of the start of the First World War.

The design has been criticised on a number of grounds including that it is a poor representation of the Kitchener poster and that another design would be better.

I think it is the right image to use as it captures the mood of eagerness to volunteer in 1914 but it is not a very good copy of the famous poster.

I do not know if the US is planning a similar coin or what image would be appropriate.

The new £2 coin featuring Kitchener does nothing to commemorate the millions of people who died in world war one. We urge you to replace the Kitchener coin with one that truly commemorates the dead. If there is not time for this, we ask you in any case to withhold the Kitchener coin from circulation.

A 1914 recruitment poster depicting Lord Kitchener, the British Secretary of State for War, above the words "WANTS YOU" was the most famous image used in the British Army recruitment campaign of World War I. The poster appeared as the cover illustration for London Opinion magazine on 5 September 1914, and The Times recorded the scene in London on 3 January 1915; "Posters appealing to recruits are to be seen on every hoarding, in most windows, in omnibuses, tramcars and commercial vans. The great base of Nelson's Column is covered with them. Their number and variety are remarkable. Everywhere Lord Kitchener sternly points a monstrously big finger, exclaiming 'I Want You'". A hugely influential image and slogan, it has inspired imitations in other countries, from the United States to the Soviet Union.