""Drivel.

It was caused by tha the-government being forced into bailing out huge banking corporations which had been grossly mis-managed by obscenely-paid and -bonused managers. And of which party, I wonder, are those obscenely-paid and -bonused managers and their businesses natural supporters and paymasters?

Short-term, or selective, memory-loss there?""

If Arthur's short term memory isn't perfect, yours is somewhat worse BW.

Bailing out the failing banks would have been easy if New Labour hadn't spent ten years frittering away the reserve funds they inherited in 1997, and Brown hadn't held a "closing down sale" disposal of our gold reserves at rock bottom prices.

So don't try to claim that New Labour was hit by an unavoidable external force, because it just ain't true. It was eminently avoidable, if Brown had been just one tenth as prudent as he claimed to be.

Do T.