THE announcement last night that three banks have abandoned plans to charge for the use of cash machines has rightly been described as a victory for consumer pressure.

The competition for our money has never been greater with the advent of Internet banking, and the financial institutions have been left with no choice but to back down.

With HSBC, followed by Barclays and Lloyds TSB submitting to the tide yesterday, only a small group of institutions have now failed to fall into line.

The signs last night were that Northern Rock will almost certainly follow suit and the others - Yorkshire Bank, Woolwich, Alliance and Leicester and HFC - will also find it hard to resist public demand for the charges to be scrapped.

The sadness is that the banks were arrogant enough to believe that they could get away with asking people to pay for the right to withdraw their own money from a cash machine in the first place.

We trust it will simply be a matter of time before every financial institution in the country sees that customers will not stand to be treated with contempt any longer.

Intemperate expectation

YES there has been a rare glimmer of English sporting triumph on the cricket field, but our hopes were sunk again last night when Tim Henman was dumped out of Wimbledon by Mark Phillippoussis.

On top of the crushing disappointment of Euro 2000 for English fans, Henman's defeat leaves us still waiting for a champion at one of our most cherished sporting events.

There can be no argument that Henman is one of the finest players we have produced for many years. But the sad truth is that other countries continue to come up with players who are just that bit better. Henman is nearly there, but not quite.

And yet, at the moment of his defeat last night, perhaps there was a sign that he might still become the winner we all yearn for.

As Phillippoussis sealed his victory, Henman's placid temperament momentarily snapped and he broke his racket against his shoe.

Too often, we have seen English players accept defeat with hardly a whimper. In Tim Henman's flash of anger at losing, there may yet be some hope.