Surely the B of E in providing £50bln made the offer contingent upon a reduction in lending rates??!! or did thet just rely on the integrity of the Blg Socs/ Banks to pass the reduction on....more fool them!

Ian Brown, Chipping Campden, Gloucs

That is a very good point ken in Stanford.

Are we going to be the new owners of the empty housing projects of Ohio?

How are we going to get any benefit from that?

As for UK properties attached to default mortagages, who will end up with the right to the house? Will it be us, or the banks?

Michael Murray, Bath,

Lloyds TSB sought 30bn in BoE loans/guarantees over 1-2 years to acquire Northern Rock. (Times Online Oct 17, 2007). Coming from one of our best managed corporations that made commercial sense and may well have obviated many of this year's UK banking woes (if the UK really is, as continuously reiterated by Brown/Darling, in a "better postion" to withstand the world credit crunch)

What I read today is simply perverse political posturing, verging on the iniquitous. No.11 is morally bankrupt.

Viktorovich, Moscow, RF

With the best will in the world, it is hard to understand why a Labour goverment is willing to support greedy, incompetent bankers and in turn deprive the poorest of their 10% tax relief.

Mr Brown needs to look to support the poorest in his country.

The poor are not just single parent families.

The majority are pensioners, who have worked hard to create the wealth that allows bankers to command such obscene salaries and bonuses.

jinette bond, morecambe, england

As an ex Bank manager I am appalled by the actions of senior management in all the banks. They have been naive, greedy and thoroughly incompetent. If I or my colleagues had acted similarly we would have been sacked not handed huge bonuses.

COLIN, Craigellachie, Banffs

The banks are short of money? Well I never...

Could it be something to do with them slashing savers interest rates, so savers have taken their money elsewhere?

Where would you expect to see the 4 banks mentioned? Consistently at the top of best savings rate tables or nearer the bottom? Is greed their problem? Low savings rates and high mortgage rates?

Fred Sly, Elgin, Scotland

Is it not the case that the majority of UK citizens are both taxpayers and, through funds if not directly, shareholders.

Jim, Kingston upon Thames, England

As a lay person I find this situation unbelievable. I can not believe this can happen virtually over night. My own feeling is that this problem has been developing and getting more out of control for a long time. I thought at the time, the rouge trader was good at covering things up but it appears he was just an amateur compared to these people.

Jim, Exeter, Devon

It is amazing to me how our financial intitutions, on whom we all rely, can be so wreckless and yet have the taxpayer and shareholders footing the bill, despite years of impressive bonus payouts for all.

I do not say that the traders and investment gurus are unworthy of their bonuses, it is a difficult job, I iust find it hard to swallow that a situation that has come about from pure unadulterated greed, has ended up with the banks themsleves going cap and hand to the BofE and their own shareholders.

Garry, Tadworth, Surrey

Talk about lunatics running the asylum. ThNorthern Rock model was flawed and the other banks just followed suit. The crisis is due to basic business incompetence. Sadly neither Brown, Darling, or King have been prepared to own up to their responsibility for this sad mess.

Bernard Waiman, London, UK

I wish the government and BofE would talk in terms of the "per family" cost of this bailout. Instead of just glibly stating 50 billion pounds, they should say £4,000 per family, or £6,000 per tax paying family. (not strictly sure of my figures but you get the idea?).

braychurchmouse, Maidenhead, UK

My friends, these losses are the result of sub-prime actual defaults or envisaged defaults. We haven't even started to see the same degee of defaults here inthe UK, which will surely come. While Darling is issuing bonds to the banks, it is the taxpayer who will pick up the bills for a generation to come. But, according to Darling and Brown, these circumstances were outside of their control - does anyone actually believe that?

bobby tran, enfield,

The Bank of England could have imposed penalties on the directorate of the banks by insisting that no personal bonuses be paid until the new scheme is closed. Why should Diamond and others receive millions in bonuses when they have not managed their businesses sensibly?

David, Poole,

No Mention of Lloyds TSB. Because they were prudent with their lending, maybe they have enough capitalisation. It seems to stand alone as a good old fashion banks with values such as "don't take on too much risk". I'd have thought that this was fairly obvious if you were running a bank!

John, Toddington, Uk

Footsie 100. Banks. 2007 pre-tax profits.
A&L 0.4bn
Barclays 7.1bn
HBOS 5.7bn
HSBC 12.2bn
Lloyds TSB 4.0bn
RBS 10.3bn
Std Chart 2.0bn
TOTAL 41.7 BILLION (inc. c. 10bn writedowns).

Darling/BoE "liquidity injection": 50 BILLION. Obviously.

Mike L, Chippenham, Wilts.

It seems to mr that the banks have been reckless if Mervyn King says thet the BOE has to protect the public from the banks.Lets hopr the High Court Judge rules in the publics favour on Thursday.The banks have been fleecing customers for decades.

stephen hulton, eure, france

Bailout? It depends on the terms of the debt for bonds swap. If there are debt losses, who eats them? A 'detail' not mentioned in the story.

ken, Stanford, california, USA