I don't know who the bigger fool is Applegarth for targeting people most likely to be hit by any economic bad news (Recession , high inflation , rising unemployment , credit crunch) or the fools who bought credit exposures from him..I think I just answered my own question. Mortgage lenders dupe desperate people & greedy people into borrowing more than they can afford based on talking up the data and the market. If the government learns anything from this it should be that they need to ban lenders from commenting on property market trends - they simply can't be trusted.

Nigel, hamilton, bermuda

The truth is, Darling had no option. It should never have been allowed to get to the stage it did because the Brass at NRock had too much power and not enough sense - and they should pay for that stupidity, both financially and with their careers.

BUT, if NRock had gone down the whole GB economy would have gone with it, confidence in any British financial institution would have been lost, the housing market, the savings market, the insurance markets would all have followed. It would have been catastrophic.

It was, sadly, making the best of a very bad situation and must not be allowed to happen again.

David, Hatfield, England

I just don't understand why the tax payer should have to shell out a single penny for this. Particularly in light of the dividends paid out to shareholders some time ago.....let's begin by recouping all dividends to shareholders.....

Paul, Esher,

What ever jim Johnson - another know it all American - who does not know the ins and outs of the situation before going in guns blazing. It was due to poor lending practises your side of the pond that is again effecting the rest of the world.

NR has a strong mortgage book with low repossession rates unlike the poor attempts in America giving loans to losers. In England we do things differently firstly you must actualy have a job / be credit worthy and 95% of the time provide a deposit.

A, gateshead, England

The government should have never got involved. Northern Rock is like a bucket with a hole in the bottom, as soon as NR realised the hole couldent be plugged they asked the BOE to fill the bucket, the BOE agreed without knowing how big the hole was. The problem is that the size of the hole can be varied by forces outside either NR or the BOE control. Its ok for the BOE to say that next year there are going to be interest rate cuts, but how can they say that, it is quite possible that instead of Oil being in Dollars it may be in Euros, who controls that, allready we have seen the Euro going up gainst the Pound, if we are not careful the pound will be worth £1 = 1 Euro, after all who are we, the country is bankrupt, we cannot afford to pay our nurses, pensions, NHS, etc., the North Sea Gas is on its last legs, and our manufacturing basis has been taken over by imports from China, Korea and Japan, the only growth industry is destroying the Green Belt for more housing.

Jim Taylor, Brittany, France

Despite promises to the contrary, Gordon Brown allowed house prices to run away on the back of speculative buy to let and self- certificated mortgages, provided by greedy financial institutions such as Northern Rock, pricing working people such as myself out of owning a home and forcing us to pay for the capital and eventual retirement investments of those more wealthy or less honest than ourselves. Now the inevitable backlash is occurring as these overstretched individuals and institutions find themselves unable to pay their immediate bills, the government is doing all it can to protect them. This means risking the taxpayers' money and putting pressure on for a lower interest rate, penalising those of us who have tried to save and avoid debts. It's all completely rotten to the core but entirely in keeping with what I'd expect of Nu Labour's dishonesty and self- interest.

Dan Oxford, Oxford, England

The solution to this "crisis" is obvious and it should take about 5 years

- Nationalise Northern Rock . (Since we own it already)
- Make no further loans. (Avoids EU competition rules)
- Increase existing customers rates gradually until they all find alternative finance.
- Then close it down.

Pete, Swindon, UK

It's difficult to be objective about this, so i won't even bother trying.

Northern Rock's unfettered and aggressive lending 'strategy' has played a big part in keeping the property bubble going, and keeping the price of houses stratospherically out of reach for potential buyers like me.

Now the nudity of the Emperor is on public display and their model has collapsed, it's suckers like me who end up bailing them out, so that larcenists like Applegarth get to keep their bonus.

What a pile of sh!t.

Forecast: Dry, with occasional outbreaks of brain.

Dave Hall, Stafford, UK

Quick Calculation.

Amount Loaned = £30,000,000,000 (£30 Billion)
1.25% goes to treasury (eventually)

Amount due after 1 year : £375,000,000.

What is worse of course is that after 6 months the Government can't support NR. If this happens and NR can't obtain loans then they are bankrupt i.e.would have to sell their mortgage book for whatever. If they don't get a reasonable price for it then the BOE i.e. the taxpayer is a creditor. The only alternative is for NR to call in their loans (if they can). In which case Mr Darling may have a personal reason for being worried.

John Portwood, Consett, UK

NR should have been treated in just the same way as they would have chastised a defaulting mortgage/loan customer. Let them go to the wall - if only to make sure the incompetent senior managers don't gey paid off.

B Ward, Torbay, UK

I cannot begin to explain how angry this makes me. Not only is my tax being used to prop up a rubbish business and greedy shareholders, BUT the money is lent at a cheap rate.

Someone hand me a ballot form, I demand an election.

paddles, London,

Northern Rock have about £100bn in mortgages mostly recently taken out. If house prices drop by 50% which is likely from previous boom/busts then we the tax payer will be £50bn down. How many hospitals would that have paid for?

Paul Davis, York, uk

Do people have any realisation of the damage which would have been done to British banking, the City and the housing market if Northern Rock had been allowed to fail ? The government not only did what it had to do, it did it cleanly, efficiently and without leaks. Well done, for preserving calmness and confidence.

Chloe, London,

Is everyone losing sight of the main issue here? Namely that Northern Rock has its savers and mortgage holders who could lose much more than just a few percentage points on some equity company balance sheet?

Come on Times. Forget the wailers, tell us the REAL story about people who are in fear of losing their homes and savings. Or don't they count?

Roy Ellor, Salford, UK

This government is becoming ever more murkyer and dishonest with each week passes, I wonder what will they be forced to admit to next?

D Case, Newquay,

Ah, Yes, another "Plunger" outfit that JUST HAS TO BE RESCUED by the Government, for the good of the country of course, "Because we can't simply let it go down, you know I have SO many friends who might loose their shirts, I mean the Nation can't afford to let it go down, can it"? Probably not, but at least for God's sake, tell the truth of why Northern Rock is in such trouble, the REAL TRUTH , which probably involves much risky investing, and many risky loans, due to shoddy government oversight. But of course, no one is to blame, are they?

Forecast: Murky Skys, with lots of Smoke and Mirrors!

jim johnson, framingham, USA