Northern Rock

[Denzel]

Agreed. If they'd just stuck with Bedlington folk they'd have been fine.

Nasty bank, trying to grow their business.

[Malcolm Robinson]

Naturally, I'm with the "some readers" on this one!

So am I but once again we see one law for the millionaires.............

Even when they do get "done" just say you lost your memory and get released.....

[Malcolm Robinson]

With Gov intervention now well over 20 billion this is starting to look like an illegal strategy on the BOE's behalf! Yes depositor's money should be protected, for a lot of reasons, but this is a private company and as such should suffer the same fate as any other private companies which flounder. It is going to be interesting to see, next week, just who has sent in their bids and if the BOE might get some cash back, eventually!

[Monsta®]

With Gov intervention now well over 20 billion this is starting to look like an illegal strategy on the BOE's behalf! Yes depositor's money should be protected, for a lot of reasons, but this is a private company and as such should suffer the same fate as any other private companies which flounder. It is going to be interesting to see, next week, just who has sent in their bids and if the BOE might get some cash back, eventually!

banks! bunch of backstabing B*stards!

[threegee]

...this is a private company and as such should suffer the same fate as any other private companies which flounder....

...if the BOE might get some cash back, eventually!

Absolutely! And, to whoever suggested that the people queueing for their money were being dumb: no lesser person than the Governor of the BoE has gone on record as saying they were doing the only rational thing in the circumstances.

It's has been estimated that NR now owes the BoE £2Bn in interest payments. So my earlier suggestion that the shareholders are wiped out looks to be nearer the mark than the rash Mr Freddie Shepherd. And, that wipe-out will undoubtedly include your charitable foundation's 74,333,500 shares Ms Fiona Ellis! Another confident statement maybe? Or are we going to see some resignations there too?

A complete !*!@#-up by Alastair Darling. He appears to have committed almost half the national reserves to propping up a small badly-managed outfit that only counts for about 2.5% of the UK's banking, and which could easily have been let fail. The depositors would have had some protection, and the mortgages would have been sold on by the liquidator. That's no more than NR was doing anyway!

So... we are now left wondering what will happen if one of the majors fails. The BoE simply doesn't have enough of OUR money to throw at that sort of exercise. No wonder that - after a long period of stability - the pound is falling against the euro.

The lesson for other building societies is stick to your roots; that is, loaning local mom'n'pop money back to local mom'n'pops. It's a low-risk business that serves a social purpose. Of course to do this you need to have piddling little street offices in piddling little towns. Offices in the sky won't hack it in low finance. High finance is high risk - risks which you often can't see coming, or when you can it's just too late.

[Monsta®]

Absolutely! And, to whoever suggested that the people queueing for their money were being dumb: no lesser person than the Governor of the BoE has gone on record as saying they were doing the only rational thing in the circumstances.

It's has been estimated that NR now owes the BoE £2Bn in interest payments. So my earlier suggestion that the shareholders are wiped out looks to be nearer the mark than the rash Mr Freddie Shepherd. And, that wipe-out will undoubtedly include your charitable foundation's 74,333,500 shares Ms Fiona Ellis! Another confident statement maybe? Or are we going to see some resignations there too?

A complete !*!@#-up by Alastair Darling. He appears to have committed almost half the national reserves to propping up a small badly-managed outfit that only counts for about 2.5% of the UK's banking, and which could easily have been let fail. The depositors would have had some protection, and the mortgages would have been sold on by the liquidator. That's no more than NR was doing anyway!

So... we are now left wondering what will happen if one of the majors fails. The BoE simply doesn't have enough of OUR money to throw at that sort of exercise. No wonder that - after a long period of stability - the pound is falling against the euro.

The lesson for other building societies is stick to your roots; that is, loaning local mom'n'pop money back to local mom'n'pops. It's a low-risk business that serves a social purpose. Of course to do this you need to have piddling little street offices in piddling little towns. Offices in the sky won't hack it in low finance. High finance is high risk - risks which you often can't see coming, or when you can it's just too late.

mmmm the joy! do you read the ftse and dow jones nasdaq etc and get excited!

[threegee]

mmmm the joy! do you read the ftse and dow jones nasdaq etc and get excited!

Yes, I follow the FTSE, and sometimes the dow, but seldom the NASDAQ.

It's a dull job but someone has to do it. Rather like there's always someone needed to post dull and boring one-liners - lamenting the fact that no one else is posting dull and boring one-liners.

Someday you might need to go to a B.Soc. to buy a house too. You can't rely on endless supplies of cardboard boxes and second-hand corrugated iron sheet - the world is rapidly running out of these. And there are people who need these vital materials more than you. You've just got to watch the news to discover this. You do watch the news?

p.s. Note that that is six whole lines - seven if you include this!

[Monsta®]

Yes, I follow the FTSE, and sometimes the dow, but seldom the NASDAQ.

It's a dull job but someone has to do it. Rather like there's always someone needed to post dull and boring one-liners - lamenting the fact that no one else is posting dull and boring one-liners.

Someday you might need to go to a B.Soc. to buy a house too. You can't rely on endless supplies of cardboard boxes and second-hand corrugated iron sheet - the world is rapidly running out of these. And there are people who need these vital materials more than you. You've just got to watch the news to discover this. You do watch the news?

p.s. Note that that is six whole lines - seven if you include this!

 i am truelly shocked! cardboard boxes, corrugated iron! whats a b.soc is that a new invention for cold bees?

and yes i do have the capacity to count! and at least i come on and post one liners!  

oh sorry this has three let me delete some thing!

[threegee]

 i am truelly shocked! cardboard boxes, corrugated iron! whats a b.soc is that a new invention for cold bees?

and yes i do have the capacity to count! and at least i come on and post one liners!  

oh sorry this has three let me delete some thing!

No, that would be a bee sock. Soc. is the standard abbreviation for society.

Note the full stop. Punctuation is sometimes very important.

Curiously, Building Societies are the subject of this thread. Or rather one particular B.Soc. that converted into a bank.

As you seem to hate banks it would be very interesting to hear exactly why? And even more interesting if you could propose something that would be better.

[Malcolm Robinson]

I see your favorite directors resigned last Friday GGG, this looks like a very good job to me, you get paid based on your own projections and then when the doo doo hits the fan you can just walk away! I would like to see director share sales for the beginning of the year!

Don't you get it monsta, these things do effect you in your everyday life. The economy, politics etc it all impacts on how you are able to live your life and you need to get the information right before you can make any plans...or in this topics case maybe put in some damage limitation.

[threegee]

I would like to see director share sales for the beginning of the year!

Easily done, they're all here:

http://moneyextra.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/inde...3&words=NRK

But you credit them with too much intelligence; the last three I checked out are all buys at seven or eight pounds!

Anyone pondering buying these shares should consider that even below a pound they are not any sort of investment, they're a pure gamble. I don't believe that any investment pro would touch them with a bargepole.

[Monsta®]

Easily done, they're all here:

http://moneyextra.uk-wire.com/cgi-bin/inde...3&words=NRK

But you credit them with too much intelligence; the last three I checked out are all buys at seven or eight pounds!

Anyone pondering buying these shares should consider that even below a pound they are not any sort of investment, they're a pure gamble. I don't believe that any investment pro would touch them with a bargepole.

thought thats how that stock market game worked! you buy low and sell high!

[Pencil_Neck]

Yes, I follow the FTSE, and sometimes the dow, but seldom the NASDAQ.

It's a dull job but someone has to do it. Rather like there's always someone needed to post dull and boring one-liners - lamenting the fact that no one else is posting dull and boring one-liners.

Someday you might need to go to a B.Soc. to buy a house too. You can't rely on endless supplies of cardboard boxes and second-hand corrugated iron sheet - the world is rapidly running out of these. And there are people who need these vital materials more than you. You've just got to watch the news to discover this. You do watch the news?

p.s. Note that that is six whole lines - seven if you include this!

I doubt that very much...........

Monsta doesn't require a house, loans, cash as he & Ms Monsta Munch live in a cave.....

[Cympil]

I doubt that very much...........

Monsta doesn't require a house, loans, cash as he & Ms Monsta Munch live in a cave.....

Canny cave..i wish i could afford a "cave" like his

[Malcolm Robinson]

Looks like this might cost Darling his job.........but if we have only seen 20% of the fallout of bad lending where is the 80%?

[Pencil_Neck]

Canny cave..i wish i could afford a "cave" like his

We 'ad to clean road wi' our tongue, tha knows....

[Pencil_Neck]

Looks like this might cost Darling his job.........but if we have only seen 20% of the fallout of bad lending where is the 80%?

1992 could be a mere blip........

[threegee]

Looks like this might cost Darling his job.........but if we have only seen 20% of the fallout of bad lending where is the 80%?

No, he'll blunder on. In 21st century UK politics (or public service) being responsible for the murder of an innocent person, or blowing half the national reserves, isn't a "resignable" offence! Try explaining the Profumo Scandal to the current generation.

What will cost him his job is his advice to Brown not to go to the Country when he had a chance. GB might just have made it past history's rather short unelected/never-elected Prime Minister roster, but the imminent collapse in house prices will do for them both. He's had an exceptionally long run on Maggie's coat tails as chancellor, so can't complain. Or if he does it can only be to Tony, and I somehow don't think Tony will be listening!

On NR it's a matter of "gearing" and "firesales" and "confidence" and "contagion" and "loss-of-goodwill". In high finance one and one don't ever make two. It's not essentialy due to bad lending, but to overtrading and poor managment. It's also due to the fact that many anticipate a collapse in the housing market - which sort of makes one inevitable.

[Malcolm Robinson]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/money/main.j...MC-mcn_22112007

98 million will not be repaid, wish I had an unsecured loan with them!!!!!

Does this mean the NEW board might face lawsuits, what about the old board, especially the CE who reportedly cashed in a couple of million quid late last year when the shares were over 12 quid! Now come on that is insider trading if there is ever a case!