I’m pleased I’m not the only person troubled by the £24,000,000,000 provided by the taxpayer to support Northern Rock – a bail out to a commercial enterprise. The government are culpable in this fiasco and seem unable to talk about a sensible resolution to the problem.

Northern Rock has effectively been nationalised, and yet it isn’t managed as such.

So, who else is troubled – well many are, and here’s a few:

• John Redwood – who asked a splendid question in the house ‘from which government account did the £24 billion come from and how is it being accounted for?’ No answer from the Gov’t.
• Anatole Kaletsky in the Times who’s asking ‘whether tens of billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money should be diverted from health, education and social services to subsidise the bonuses of stockbrokers and salaries of bankers?’ He wants the business to go into administration. No answer from the Gov’t.
• Martin Wolf  in the Financial Times [also discussed elsewhere in the FT], wants the Government loans to end in February 2008, and if that means administration for Northern Rock then so be it.
• Guido Fawkes, the scourge of the Labour Party, sees a public interest in finding out what the Government’s policy is oon the £24 billion of taxpayers money.
• And finally, Vince Cable, LibDem temporary leader, displays admirable directness in asking Gordon Brown, “Can the Prime Minister confirm that the Government have now lent £24 billion of taxpayers’ money to that small mortgage bank—twice the amount of public expenditure on primary schools every year, and four times the aid budget?”

The Northern Rock fiasco is not over by a long way, and the longer the Government avoid facing up to reality of the seriousness of the situation, the worse the situation will become.