The spy at the cash machine

IN A world where privacy is at a premium, there is something deeply sinister about the slow, but steady, disappearance of cash on our streets.

Burslem in Stoke-on-Trent has become the first large town in Britain to lose all its free cashpoints. Now, residents have to pay by card or fork out between 95p and £3.50 every time they withdraw the readies from Link ATM machines.

Given the way that internet giants such as Facebook and Google have, over the past few years, profited from selling our data, should we really be putting our trust in banks and this growing ‘ surveillance economy’? Increasingly, they know when and where we’ve used our cards, how much we’ve spent and on what.

Most of us, of course, have nothing to hide. But, sometimes, all we want is a few quid to buy a coffee and a cronut without feeling Big Brother knows and is wagging a finger at us.