a good bank need support ,they have sthength for so many years successful management,and it have rich experience.It is temporary,will back to normal.

Sandy, xiamen,

If the large invions to be knownestors of Northern Rock wish for their opinions to be known, and they think it is valued, then perhaps they could stunp up their share of the £25 Billion that the Taxpayer is currently keeping them afloat with!

Dominic Tattersall, Burnley, England

'Also, Eric Campbell, the vast majority of shareholders by number are small-timers, most of whom paid for their shares, and who may well be NR employees and / or NR savers too. To portray them as an entirely separate and greedy interest group is just old style class war dogma that gets the debate no further'.

The vast majority of shareholders are depositors and motgage holders who received their shares free, as did those in Halifax, Abbey, Woolwich et al when Building Societies became Banks. I am not portraying them as a greedy interest groups I am portraying them as what they are - lucky recipients of a hand-out. I am not portraying a class war - I am simply saying that they cannot lose what they did not possess - and if they do lose a paper profit, which in the case of Northern Rock was always exactly that, paper only, then there is no reason why I, a taxpayer, should pay them out. Their shares were never worth anything except in the cooked books of a failed enterprise. Tough.

eric campbell, harrogate, uk

Our understanding of the Northern Rock crisis is bedevilled by both government and media misinformation, which can only provoke anger and confusion amongst the public. This very article tells us that it owes 50 billions, then just 26 billions a couple of paragraphs later. One of these "facts" must be wrong.

Until journalists can get their heads round the no doubt complex financial background and check their "facts" before hitting their keyboards they should stop just gossiping and shut up.

Also, Eric Campbell, the vast majority of shareholders by number are small-timers, most of whom paid for their shares, and who may well be NR employees and / or NR savers too. To portray them as an entirely separate and greedy interest group is just old style class war dogma that gets the debate no further.

Gordon Alexander, Frome, UK

"A high stakes poker game wouldn't be a proper discharge of the directors' duties," Mr Sanderson said. "Shareholders have no right to expect them [the Government] to put the taxpayers' and consumers' interests behind those of shareholders."

I can't believe it - someone at Northern Rock is finally speaking sense and realising that the rest of us taxpayers do not exist solely to prop up their ailing business. Now if only the idiot shareholders who insist on some imagined 'fair value' for their shares would listen to the Board's advice...

MB , Edinburgh,

There is a lot of talk of nationalisation.
Why is there no talk of administration?
Take the bank into Administration and put it out of its misery, say I.
That's the way capitalism is supposed to work isn't it?

rajeev shah, london,

Banking is about borrowing long and lending short.

Building societies are institutions that take depositers deposits and, conservatively, lend them to home-buyers.

Northern Rock was an investment speculator that used its position, ostensibly as a bank/building society, to actually speculate on financial packages. The Regulators knew what the management were doing and allowed it to operate accordingly. They are responsible, should pay compensation, be sacked and prosecuted.

F. Roseman, London, England

Those little shareholders should have been more careful. I'm a middle class small very limited share investor , and I have never even looked at Northern Rock as a share investment despite all the returns and boasts, because it has clearly and blindlingly obviously been a house of cards for many, many years. If someone greedily looks to investing in Nut, Scam and Co PLC , they can hardly cry when it all goes south, and to say "I'm Old , the taxpayer should bail me out for my stupidity and greed" is just too much . They've invested in a failed incompetent business and should take the conserquences of the losses as well as the gains.

Roarke, Wembley, London

This bank has been nationalised, end of story, or our money back now!
Taxpayer's hard earned money should not be used to prop up incompetent or badly run banks, or for that matter, any other PRIVATE enterprise that fails. Investment is gambling, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.
At what rate of interest has our money been loaned? and who exactly is responsible?

Clive Burghard , LANCING, England

Almost all the shareholders at todays meeting will have got their shares free. The minority who bought theirs took the same risk as anyone buying any shares. Neither group should have our money, or our sympathy. One has made a profit, whatever the shares drop to. The other made a bad buy and must live with it. The general public is not responsible. The government should not have risked our money.

eric campbell, harrogate, uk

It was stupid to support this sinking ship which should have been allowed to go under, the taxpayer would now still have the £50billion to help us through the recession now well and truly under way. This country has little in reserves thanks to that clown Brown. Helping out these lame ducks who borrowed money to fuel growth with scant regard for any economic downturn is not what I pay my taxes for. Northern Rock had it coming to them as will happen to Brown as the real 'you know what' hits the fan.

Good bye Mr Bean!

D Case, Newquay,