I suspect that the MPC or HMG is less in control than the impression that is given. Globalisation and leveraged financial instruments have contributed to financial problems of a scale that can hardly be addressed by politicians and national banks. As an example I cite Northern Rock, one of the second division UK banks which has sucked up funds on a scale which is almost unmanagable for the British Government. This one disaster alone along with high public expenditure limits future scope to influence adverse economic events.
Mr King is beating his chest and requesting the rest of us (non-bankers) to reach for our hairshirts. I'm not convinced that will do.

peter boswell, chagford , UK

Bob Travers of Stevenage has it about right, in my view.Successive governments have allowed U.K.mnfg to die. The UK is an import economy, cut the rates and increase the import costs, the UK consumer will just suffer more, and it will be even tougher on those members of the community who are heavily in debt. House buyers need not think that rate cuts will ease their problems because lenders will be seeking to widen their margins and increase their reserves.

A.Hoare, Cajarc, France

Over the last 15 days Wheat futures have risen by over 25% .Soya nearly as much. Now I am told the Chinese winter oil seed rape crop has in many areas
been devastated by the excessive cold weather, [this is their main cooking oil].
Trouble is basic food price inflation affects the poor the most! And now we multiply the price rises with a devalued pound. And tonight on ITV we were told of a dramatic credit squeeze to come. Better get praying
Mr Brown.

David Vinter, Louth, Lincs., UK.

Dear me. I do wish people would stop obsessing over the Pound. It's not the sixties any more. The Pound does not have a fixed exchange rate, and movements in the Pound tell you something about comparative interest rates, and almost nothing about the underlying economy.

If you want something to worry about, worry about education and the lack of basic training at many levels in the British workforce. What globalization means is that everyone has to compete and no-one can shelter behind tariff barriers. That means that well-trained workforces will succeed and people who sit at home watching daytime TV will fail.

All this twittering about a 5p change up or down in the Pound is just a distraction. Worse, it's a way to avoid thinking about the real problem - an ignorant and uneducated population increasingly dependent on Government hand-outs..

jon livesey, Sunnyvale, CA/USA

As a serving soldier currently waiting to deploy to Afghanistan I find it absolutely abhorrent that a so called member of the public is to face jail for the planned abduction and decapitation of a British soldier. If this crime were committed we would all be shocked and dismayed that muslim extremists could do this in OUR country, with OUR laws, with OUR security. The truth of the matter is that this is no longer OUR country with those who will abide by our laws but still OUR soldiers put their lives on the line every day to try and make a difference for the rest of us sat at home watching it all on TV. What sentence will be bestowed upon the perpertrayer of this henious crime? He will go to jail of course for a very long time which will cost the tax payer a pretty penny no doubt while his poor hard done by family grab all the benefits they can get their hands on. He may even get to do a course to claim for more money when what he really deserves is to be deported family and all.

Sgt R Kimsey, Paderborn, Germany

Dominic in Manchester. A Sterling collapse is pretty bad for those of us who get paid in Sterling, who have our savings in Sterling and who do not wish to see food and fuel prices hiked up even further. So long as interest rates are kept ridiculously low, then inflation will not 'spike', it will carry on rising and with it, standards of living will carry on falling.

As you say a real, if not notional, collapse in asset prices will make Britain competitive again. Lowering interest rates to keep property prices artificially high is precisely what we don't need. Let 'em fall back to sensible levels, based on more realistic income multiples. You should be asking why is a house pice collapse deemed to be 'bad', when it isn't?

Paul, Coventry,

Keep the pound!

I'm selling sterling at the mo and doing OK.

Come on dollar, beat that pound...

Tex, London,

Oddly enough I have read articles in the Times over the last couple of years telling us that in comparison with Europe we are the lucky ones because they do not wave their credit cards around and so have missed the opportunity to drown themselves in a sea of debt. I have also read articles by economists in the Times where the Germans have been castigated for daring to have a manufacturing industry (which has given them a positive balance of trade with China ) and for being tightpursed and thrifty.. There have been numerous passages in all the media about how fortunate we have been,how the all powerful sterling reflects our financial genius and how visitors from Europe have drooled in envy at the wealth on display in the suburbs of Windsor and Epsom. Well the party is over and now comes the price and to get ourselves out of this is going to be extremely painful and will require politicians who have more guts than the present effete mob.

george, Exeter, U K

Maybe I've missed something, but why is a sterling collapse "bad"?

Surely a real, if not notional, collapse in asset prices will make Britain competitive again?

Bretton woods devalutation, ERM collapse, and now this.

All caused by an over valued sterling.

Inflation will spike, but maybe it needs to?

Wipe out the service economy and build a real on in its place.

Dominic, Manchester, UK

Perhaps it is time to do what is for some the unthinkable - join the Euro. We are in Europe and want to trade with the rest of the continental market, such a move makes sense. At the moment we are suffering huge costs for the privilege of keeping the £.... Of course the currency market and traders are doing very well out of the situation. One man's meat is another's poison etc.

cwillnic, Cardiff,

What's the most frightening word in economics? "Leverage".
A deceit for borrowing more and more money until a fiscal collapse sets in.
Leveraging is like swinging a leaking bucket full of water. You have to stop sooner or later and then, water runs out.
Britain plc, consumer and corporate is up to its neck in debts
and technically, insolvent. Propped up by the mirage of property values.
The only recourse now for its citizens? Get out and get out fast.

leigh vernier, riyadh, ksa

"worst of the present inflationary dangers will subside and rates will tumble towards 4 per cent in a year’s time".

Dream on Gary. The Pound would crumble as the world's cash sloshed out of Pounds into Euros, Aussies and maybe even back into Dollars. Just 0.25% last December cut caused a 6% decrease in the Pound. Imports from Asia are rising in price, take the Pound down as well and the resulting inflationary spiral will be up to double figures by June next year.

Also you would be annihilating savers and pensioners cash deposits by giving a rate of return well under the rate of inflation.

The MPC should stick to its mandate and its guns and get this right; nterest rates at or above the current level. We are in for a period of lower growth and falling house prices. Slashing the interest rates would destabilise the economy and not provide help, as the banks are not lending willy nilly.

And they should switch back to the RPI instead of the misleading CPI.

Bob Travels, Stevenage,

Brown frowns while England drowns - but what does he care? Scotlands doing OK - wake up England.

Marty, London, England