The notes could be spent in local cafes and shops where they would be given out in change to residents. Businesses embraced the scheme with gusto more than 600 signing up in Bristol alone.
In 2021, however, the buzz has faded in part due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has wiped out the use of cash.
Most currencies are out of circulation now and remain nothing but a novelty a sparkly collector s item resigned to scrapbooks rather than cash registers.
But are they on the cusp of a digital renaissance?
The pioneers of the Bristol and Brixton pounds certainly think so. Both organisations are experimenting with the possibility of relaunching their local currencies this time on an app.
Undercover officers spied on a humanist group in Lewisham between 1972 and 1983 as they engaged in “political policing”, an inquiry has heard. The Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI) is examining the past work of two secretive police units after condemnation of their tactics, which saw them target groups perceived to be left-wing. Revelations that women were tricked into sexual relationships with officers and police spies had used the identities of dead children without their families’ permission have sparked public outrage.
Retired judge Sir John Mitting is chairing the inquiry The latest series of hearings in the inquiry, which began on Wednesday, is examining the activities of the Metropolitan Police Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) between 1972 and 1983.
What today s young women should learn from older generations
We’ve been at loggerheads for too long, but it’s time to reclaim the streets, reclaim our rage, reclaim our history and make some more
15 March 2021 • 6:00pm
Women representing the Women’s Liberation Movement protesting against the Government’s Sex Discrimination Bill in 1975
Credit: Hulton Archive
How does a moment become a movement? The anger and sorrow that so many women are expressing right now is significant. There are those that say that Sarah Everard’s memory should not be exploited by those who distrust the police and politicians. It would have been possible to mourn this young woman’s death peacefully without the ridiculous policing but the icy rage hangs in the air.
Beverley Bryan: the British Black Panther who inspired a generation of women Tobi Thomas
In the mid-60s, Beverley Bryan was a prefect at Lavender Hill secondary modern in south London. One of her responsibilities was to stand at the school gates and scribble down the name of any student who was late. One such girl was Olive Morris, who would become one of the country’s leading anti-racism activists. Bryan, meanwhile, would follow in the younger girl’s footsteps, becoming a British Black Panther, a founder member of the Brixton Black Women’s Group and, in 1985, the co-author of the seminal book The Heart of the Race: Black Women’s Lives in Britain – which helped educate generations of women about the struggles and triumphs of Black women in Britain.