THE Margin has an urgent message for the pub quiz fanatic. Asked for the currency of Ukraine, most of the Margin's regular readers would immediately blurt out "hryvna". But wait. It now turns out that the Ukranian government has decided to introduce a new unit, the karbovanets.

This has led to fears among the local populace that the karbovanets would simply become a devalued version of the hryvna, and led to local street markets in Kiev and Odessa only taking dollars.

So, the next time Shelbourne meet a Ukrainian soccer team, Reds supporters might be best advised to foresake the local (financial) attractions for the reliable greenbacks.