It is good to see he has recovered enough from his catatonic state to secure a rosey future for himself.

I am ready to offer him a job, well above the UK avergae wage but a little below the sum he will receive for playing golf with his pals - do you think he will take it?

chris, Dubai,

Your first leading article on the Northern Rock affair (15 September 2007) takes a different view from that which has become popular since, and in my opinion went straight to the heart of the matter. Perhaps you would care to print it again (or shall we have to wait to see it in 'On this day'?
Mr Applegarth's mistake was in thinking that other banks thought they were doing, and when it transpired that they didn't they left him in the lurch, because, as you put it then, they panicked. It was their panic which spread needlessly to the depositors and led to the so-called run on the bank.
The new management are doing what Applegarth would probably have done more efficiently and less expensively 6 months ag if he'd been left to get on with it, and without losing staff.
As a Northern Rock depositor I had more confidence in himwithout a government guarantee than I have in his successors.. He desrves to be generously compensated for the way he has been treated.

RoyC, Newent, UK

It beggars belief that this nitwit can profit from incompetence on such a scale, and that has had such widespread ramifications, affecting everyone in the country. Totally bizarre, and the thought of thing that demoralises every tax payer, and generally lowers morale.

Simon Peters, London, Greater London

This must rank as the best April Fool's joke this year.

I wonder how the small investors who have held their shares from privatisation and who were denied the last dividend payment prior to loosing their shares down a government black hole feel about it.

R M Trowsdale, Chessington,

Northern Rock's demise was a result of collapsing credit markets. Arguably management should have seen the squeeze coming. However, the strategy of the bank until a few months leading up to the crunch was not disastrously flawed. From what one can read, there was nothing wrong with the underlying mortgage book and they were not lending irresponsibly when compared to the overall UK market.

St John Delwes-Cholmondely (Lord), Hingebottom Bay, UK

Once the Directors of a Limited Company continue to trade when insolvent, they lose the protection of limited liability and become personally liable. How are the Directors and former executives of Northern Rock able to avoid this situation?

Under the circumstances Adam Applegarth should now be held personally to account.

K.Wells, Sevenoaks, Kent

Obviously well 'connected' but then he woulkd have had to have been to get the job in the first place, nonetheless, pretty obscene to walk away with such a bonus considering the enormity of his failure, but then as I said, 'obviously well connected'

Clive Burghard, LANCING, ENGLAND