Nice to see that Gordo is blaming the recession on 'global' factors and not on his own economic incompetence - along with that of the BoE and FSA - in creating the debt bubble.

Paul, Coventry,

I've been waiting for the pound to fall against the doller. I'd like to visit the UK, but it's too expensive.

Colleen Bryant, Cambridge, MA, United States

Labour destroy our economy, The Conservatives have to rebuild it. History repeats itself.

Christian, East Midlands, England

Why are the Pound, Euro, and other currencies like the Canadian and Australian dollars all sinking against the U.S. dollar when their economy, bank system, and debt all seem to be worse off in comparison?

Allan, Montreal, Canada

Er Hugo: cash pays no interest and property/shares are falling.

Where do you put your money?

Richard Boyce, Haywards Heath, UK

Yes, lowering interest rates sure is a funny way of helping the banks to recapitalise! And even the hint of interest rate cuts has led to a run on the pound. Now please don't say that we didn't see this one coming. What are economists and financial journalists for exactly?

Frank, London, UK

Remember Gordon Brown at the turn of the year implying everything was fine - just like Tarik Assiz when the troops were entering Bagdad. Neither could be further from the truth. King has his hand on the pulse

james, London,

Cutting interest rates enables banks to cut the rate they pay depositors by the same amount, or in Northern Rocks case slightly more. They don't seem to in any rush to cut mortgage rates or personal loan rates. Interest cuts mean more money for banks and a weaker pound!

Mark, Romford,

Rate cuts are yesterdays answer. The lending markets ignore them, and Forex markets react - a hideous lose-lose.

Cutting rates maybe what the unthinking demand, but all they do is cause more pain. Base rates need to be just under LIBOR for the MPC to become credible once more.

Pat, Coromandel, NZ

He wanted to bring the the pound down ,and hes done it.Its trhe only way of keeping fuel prices on the up.

tom, london, england

Listen guys. That lovely Yvette Cooper was on telly earlier, and apparently it's all to do with the US and global issues and no fault of NuLabour. She said we have low unemployment, and things were worse in the last bust, something to do with 15% and we have low interest rate now. Everything is OK.

Np, England, UK

What I find strange is that King didn't say anything new. Why does the pound fall that much than as a reaction?

Peter, Liverpool, UK

This country is not sinking into a recession,
it is sinking into corruption and pollution.

john regan, London, UK

The doom and gloom guys are doing a wonderful job. The aim is to drive down any payments coming due on Insurance policies etc so that the fat cats can pay out less and keep more for themselves.
UK.com is a robust set up talking itself into greater debt. This is not the way to run a business.

P Barrett, Plymouth, England

David Pengilly - Get real. This is all to do with the markets, business buying businesses on loans, high retail prices in the name of profit, utility price greed, council tax and taxation. The housing market is miniscule part of problem along with personal debt. Corporate greed burst this bubble

Adrian, UK, UK

Look on the bright side...oil prices that were at historic levels because of weak dollar are now down by half. All is not lost unless you were planning a property purchase in dollars or a holiday in the States. No more trips to NY for cloths, iPods or laptops now !

John Taylor, London,

Just remember how we got here.....

Blair & Brown in charge of the Titanic for the last 12 years.

Lending money to those who could not afford to borrow.....

Phil, Preston,

I have been involved with the engineering industry in UK for 50 years and NEVER have I seen such a complete collapse as has happened this past month. It's as if someone has turned off the lights and Gordon Brown has just begun to wake from his dream of no more boom and bust!

J.Edwardson, Brierley Hill,

Can Dr King please think before pronouncing, we are all aware that we are in the midst of a recession however he, in grandiose fashion announces this formally to the world and as a result our currency plunges, costing the country untold amounts.

This has cost my small company dear this morning

peter lane, portsmouth, uk

For many, many years the pound/dollar rate was 1.60 it was accepted as the norm. So that in itself is not so bad, what is bad is the unintelligent Mervyn King making matters worse for the country. He did it with Northen Rock and he should have gone then. Get him out before its too late.

Peter, Conwy,

What they should do now is to take all the UK's money and go down to the nearest race track. Bet on the flat - the favourite would be "I told you so" and a 500-1 would be "Mervyn King".
Actually if they go for the favourite and the 2,3 - the UK might
make a cool 120 trillion.......................

Stephen Pain, Odense, Denmark

This recession is caused by an unsustainable property price bubble. Deflating it will cause a decade of pain to those who previously invested and a world of good for those coming along next. What we need now is a decrease in public spending, not an increase and strengthened market regulation.

david pengilly, long ditton,

I've got a Porsche!

Charlie, London,

Good. Weakened pound is exactly what is required at present to make UK exports more competitive

ANDREW, LONDON,

Why should stating the obvious cause the pound / markets to fall, are they blind or idiots on the markets or perhaps just shell shocked.

Did King realise that he was going to effectively devalue the pound, and did he have Gordons permission, or will he have to write another letter to Sir.

am, letchworth,

This is truely ridiculous. With the market so volatile why would anyone with any ounce of common sense come out and big up the fact that we are in a recession, knowing that it will destroy the stirling.

Yeah smart move Mr King! This a media led recession and Mr King stoked the fire!

Simon, Stamford, UK

I agree absolutely with John F. All politicians should stop talking the economy down and concentrate their energies on building it up.
Mervin King should know better.

Rokola, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Nov 6 - date for a lowering the interest rate. Is this not the date of a by-election? Smelly? Interest rates lower than inflation - does this not mean that savings PLUS INTEREST are increasing slower than the £ is deflating in value? An invitation to go into debt if there ever was one!

M. Cawdery, Portadown, Co. UK

Denial about states of Business Health is what got us in this mess, being open about current difficulties is a start, the quicker we realise we are in a recession, big time, the quicker we will realise we will all have to work together to get out of this.Mervyn is telling us what we already know

Len Jones, Wardle, Cheshire

Why ? .Why ? Why?
Does he have to say this ?.
It could be true but coming from The Governor it has a whole new meaning which has lead a run on the pound .

Perhaps I am just getting too old

Bernard Parke, GUILDFORD, England

Its not talking up or talking down it called telling the truth .The housing crash has been seen for 2 years ,the market crash for months ,only fools and politicians could not see at least in part what was coming.We now need a sound ecomomy based on production not financial froth.

GPEDLIN, london, uk

It seems that what people say on the news have more impact on the stock exchanges around the world than what really happen. My advice is: Shut up and don't say that we are in recession! We now we are anyway!!

Romain, Brighton, UK

Cool.... more people will buy British cars, British televisions, British aircraft, British ships, British computers and so on and so forth..

Oh hang on... :-)

DickW, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Two eyes Two ears One mouth. There speaks a man protected by the blanket of the public system.Brains not engaged.

G.J.MORDECAI-MASON, Cardiff, UK

We now face raging inflation, devaluing our savings, reduced interest rates, reducing savings income, devaluation of the pound against the Euro and dollar and increased taxation to recover some of the (our) money the government has donated to the banks. Debts however will be inflated away. Justice?

Richard, Alicante, Spain

Will someone please explain to me. It has been clear for some months that the UK ecomony is doomed. Why did the traders wait for King to speak before going on a selling spree? Or are they, like our politicians, just plain stupid too?

Richard Crompton, Baden, Switzerland

Nice job, Mervyn.

I swear the governors, politicians and media won't be happy until they have talked this country's economy into complete collapse!

John F, London,

Mervin King is announcing the obvious. America was heading towards recession from 2006, then 2007 they went into denial.
We in the UK entered on verging towards recession 2007 went into denial for the first 2 quarters and now we are facing up to this monster of all recession. the £ diving against $

Daphne Kenward, Cambridge, UK

Perhaps it's time to concentrate on other economic parameters other than the " markets ". Take a look at the German economy where companies produce for profit and are less reliant on the markets to bolster their funds.

Robin Brittain, Wolverhampton, UK

How resposible is Mr KIng take for the current financial crisis?
Perhaps he should look for another job

Gareth Williams, Powys,

I would be very greatfull if somene can explain simply "exactly" what caused everything across the World to go so pear-shaped so quickly. On "Monday" everyone was doing what they normally do and thinking about what to have for supper. On "Friday" everyone's wondering if they'll have any supper.

john, kouvola, finland

It's time to join the euro especially when the pound enables us to compete.

gordon, barnsley,

Its ridicules that our chancellor states the bleeding obvious and the world stock markets crash & the pound + Euro fall against the hopeless Dollar!

Lexx Aston, London, UK

The pound has been tumbling for some months now. King's speech just rode on the back of it! Thanks anyway Merv. My trading the pound on its way down is going OK!

Bill, London,

Who was in charge during this time? Why, Mr King and the Chancellor of course! So why do we not read their groveling apologies? "Sorry people, we've messed up big style!"

Jonathan, Helsinki, Finland

What prompted Mr King to make such a statement? Why is it that that such people continually talk the situation down? Such irresponsible behaviour should be rewarded with the sack.

David Michael, London, UK

1. Log onto Housepricecrash.co.uk if you want to read about this before it happens. We predicted this a year or more ago. An over indebted country, too politically scared to do the right thing (higher rates to reduce debt and cut back on public spending), tries to inflate it's way out of trouble...

Austin Tassletine , South West , UK

Time to support the Pound and raise Interest rates then, UK PLC desperately needs funds and the only way to do that is make IRs attractive, a recession cant be avoided now so best think long term.

Peter, Aldershot, UK

Why do the markets plunge when Mervin king suggests that we are going into recession. Are the markets so thick that they can not see the dire situation for the economy themselves?

Chris, Chipping Norton,

Why is that we are talking our eceonmey down and yanks talk theirs up?

What we need are mps who did not go to school with rich fat cats and dont know any one who works in the city, thsi you scratch my back and i will scratch yours has to end, the rich get richer and now we are even helping them!

MR w jones, Liverpool, England

Interest rates are lower than inflation - why would people put their money in banks?

Mr King has an inflation target, why is he not bothered about meeting it?

When will he ask the government for new legislation, for home loans? minimum 10% deposit, max loan 3 times earnings, use only 1 income

Hugo van Randwyck, London, UK

Interesting point Mr.King made about our banking system never being so close to collapse since the beginning of the First World War. Wars and economies have a close relationship. Was Osama Bin Laden correct when he predicted the ongoing wars (Iraq etc) would bankrupt America?

Herman Wurlitz, Exeter, UK