We used to bank with Barclays...................

.............until the early 70s when we became aware, through the activities of the Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM), of their support for the regime in South Africa From the mid-1970s to 1986 AAM and End Loans to Southern Africa worked together to campaign against Barclays to get the bank to withdraw from and stop making loans to South Africa. In 1985, because other international banks stopped financial dealing with South Africa, the apartheid government declared a debt repayment standstill after which Barclays ceased making new loans to them. In 1986 they withdrew from South Africa entirely. The student boycott, of which we were a (very small!) part, of the bank led to a drop in its share of the UK student finance market from 27 per cent to 15 per cent by the time it pulled out in 1986. Because of its associations with the apartheid regime, Barclays Bank was known as 'Boerclays Bank'.

Given the rather pitiful state of our finances at the time, it was a pretty empty guesture on our part. But I like to think that the collective action of thousands like us helped tip the balance. I still believe that many individual small actions by committed people can make a real difference.

And I've carried a suspicion of Barclays' business ethics ever since. So much so that the present LIBOR/Bob Diamond affair surprises me not one jot.