Peter Hooper - compensation for mis-selling financial products was right because sellers had deceived the buyers about the benefits they could expect. This can't be compared to the self-deception in buying a house with someone else's money in the belief you're entitled to a risk-free profit.

Gordon Alexander, Frome, UK

So, Mr. King lambasts banks for making dubious loans, then lends millions to Northern Rock.

Anyone else laughing at the irony?

Bill Bird, Wallasey, UK

King of spin blaming others rather than acknowledge his part in making the credit crunch far worse than need be in the UK, causing unemployment and repossessions. The BoE has even attracted criticism from the US and Germany for its poor response to liquidity issues, something unheard of in the past

David, London,

What about some of these knavish bankers losing their homes and assets as a consequence of the reckless endangerment of the UK economy???

If innocent byestanders can get hurt then so should the rascal bankers - personally where it hurts, all assets should be recovered from them.

R McAuley, Antrim, United Kingdom

John Pitt, where do you get your diesel? £1.10 sounds like a bargain. Most stations charge around £1.30 for diesel at the moment.

Funny that King is now coming up with these comments! Is it not stating the obvious? Why was nothing done to prevent this?

Peter, London,

Eric Skelton, I'm glad I don't take heroin. I'd really be in your bad books!

4 out of 5 ain't bad.

Ashley McDonald, Bolton,

What we need are another 2 million unqualified economic migrants to pull us through these turbulent times.

Cromwell, Leeds, England

When there was mis-selling of endowment mortages and private pensions, compensation schemes were set up to help correct the situation.
Why are the banks, building societies and mortage brokers not being held to account for the present mess & why no talk of a mortage compensation scheme ?

Peter Hooper, Windsor, UK

Trouble is that the banks took the wrong sort of risks.

Instead of investing in new or early stage companies in sectors such as new energy technology they chose the easy route with property and private equity companies.

DickW, Aberdeenshire,

By keeping interest rates high. Industrialists will have to add costs to factory gate prices to off set bank capital costs. BOE haven't got a clue. Unless they are trying to smash this economy up to make the USA not look so bad. Nothing would surprise me about this lot

Mark, Gateshead, tyne wear

So Mervyn King has decided to attack the banks for their reckless lending.It begs the question,why didn't he say something 5 years or so ago,when we first became aware of
"self-certification"mortgages and "120%"mortgages.Stable doors and bolting horses spring to mind.

Mike, Dunstable, Engalnd

Inflation! Diesel is the principal fuel for commercial vehicles. Its current UK price is approximately £1.10 per litre, of which diesel duty makes up around 50.35p per litre, considerably more than the EU average of 24.97p/lit. On top of this, fuel attracts VAT at a 17.5%. Cap tax, lower inflation

John Pitt, Liverpool, UK

Why is it that all of the Banks have benefited directly or indirectly from the Taxpayers injection of ++ £50 Billion into Northern "Rock" (more like jelly) YET the main banks like Nat West etc continue to fight the taxpayers legal claim (i.e. OFT) against the Banks regarding extortionate fees ?

Kevin, Birmingham, UK

Andrew Harrison - you are right they are not to blame for cheap credit. They are to blame for slackening the rules on risk and for not highlighting the risks when selling the products in the first place. The FSA should be called to order for not regulating the smaller IFA's. The victim is jo public.

Ravi, birmingham,

NOT Innocent Bystanders .
Many are buy-to-let; Had the market gone up they would have cashed out (& complained of taxes!).
Others are families; who put up no savings or money of their own. Had the market gone up they would have a windfall.
If only OLD Labor would save me from all my bad choices!

L Mars, Cornwall, UK

people borrow what they cant afford to repay
their own fault, not teh commercial or central banks
no different to soemoen dumb enough to take a holiday or buy a car they cant afford repayments on is it
look fwd to some cheap deals in future on previously overpriced property

steve , chelmsford ,

Can someone please inject some sense into this increasingly frenzied debate ? Negative equity is only a problem if you have to sell. How many of these 23000 will HAVE to do so ? Couple of hundred, on the outside. Get real, this is media-driven scare mongering at its worst.

Chris, London, UK

Like everything else in this country people's total financial irresponsibility is someone else's fault. Just as the cigarette companies get the blame for smoking, the banks are to blame for people overspending and ending up in debt. Grow up everyone and take some responsibility for your actions

ENR, London , UK

Time to reintroduce council houses, and forget the pc claptrap of affordable housing. Milking the less well off on expensive real world mortgages, is not, was not, and will not be a realstic option regardless of how pc anyone wants to present it.

Jimd, Norwich, uk

These retrospective figures totally understate the real world. Multiply the monthly figure by 12 to get the real (annual) picture.

R James, Clifton, UK

All Too LATE!

The outcome was all obvious 4-5 years ago and if the BoE had the ability to look outside of the confines of the closet they live in they would have seen this. Experts should predict. Poorly motivated only look back and point.

The Banks will not learn full stop.

Next thought please?

Paul, London, Canada

It is unfair to blame lending banks for the results of cheap money, which is the fault of the central banks, mainly the fed, but to some extent the boe also.The move from rpi to cpi did not help in the uk either, so some blame must attach to the government also. banks lent to maintain market share.

andrew harrison, edinburgh, scotland

Innocent bystanders? So these 'responsible adults' also join the ranks of those who continue to smoke, eat lard, take heroin, have unprotected sex with strangers and sunbathe without cream.

Eric Skelton, cardiff, Wales

We are all beginning to realise the stupidity of taking on huge debts to buy rabbit hutches. They were never worth it. I just hope that in 10 years time when the market picks up that we never let boom and bust happen again. We are all greedy however and I am sure we will play the same game next time

chris, Oxford,

as ever - we need to reduce our dependance on finiaical insitutuions. they have gone mad - look at the futures index - indirectly it leads to artificailly inflated prices for things due to bankers playing the market.. common sense needs to come in before capatalism.

amit hindocha, birmingham,