A cashless society would appear to be inevitable, and within a generation the cheque book and piggy bank will be resigned to the history books alongside steam train travel.
Clydesdale Bank has issued the first plastic banknotes to enter circulation in the UK.
The Bank of England will start introducing more durable polymer banknotes in 2016, which should hold up a little better than the tatty cotton notes in circulation now, some of which have been exchanged more than 2,000 times, picking up dirt, Biro scribbles, and a little cocaine along the way.
A wooden box containing $8.5 million in cash was discovered by a documentary film crew at a flat in East London.
The wealth of Britain’s richest people has risen by 15.4% over the last 12 months, according to the Sunday Times rich list.