• Commentary: It’s bad, but maybe not as bad as we fear
• Analysts warn ‘it’s going to be horrible’ with the fall-out
• New concerns over the Government's bank bailout bill
• Moody's gives Britain a little bit of cheer on credit rating
• Poll: Is Brown still the right man to handle the economy
• Dole queues double in commuter land
• How the crisis is affecting people
• Sectors struck by the latest crisis

Reader views (76)

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when are the people in this country going to wake up and get rid of Bill @ Benn politics.If we get rid of Brown what do we get instead, Cameron,another self serving career politician and his cronies.
Neither lot have any integerity or morality,they ponse off the hardworking taxpayer to pay their garenner,decorator mortgage gas electricity and everything else.
At least with proportional representation we could get rid of the scroungers quickly, and they would know it

- Mike, birmingham

John L, Scarborough: You talk of being ripped off in all walks of life, and then go on about the mines closing and families struggling. It is cheaper to import coal than dig it out the ground here,that is a fact, and was the reason the mines closed. In other words, they priced themselves out of a job. You go on about being ripped off, but that's what the miners did to the Government, sadly to their detriment in the end.

- Sue, Orpington, Kent

The worse down turn since 1980 surely you are joking, don't you mean since 1930?

- Stan White, leeds

The economic news is bad, but the worst is yet to come.

The political class says no one saw this coming. Not true, many people did, but the ones who saw it coming were not blinded, as were politicians and financiers, by the lure of easy money and exponentially rising wealth.

The Blair/Brown years in the UK, and the Clinton/Bush years in the USA, will one day be seen as having presided over the uncontrolled growth of moral rot in the nation’s financial markets, when they permitted the privileged few to become ungodly wealthy while the real income of everyone else collapsed.

You cannot sustain democratic societies when the income disparity of the wealthiest Britons and Americans v. the rest of us has risen to 500-1.

We will pay an extraordinary price for this folly, unregulated markets and uncontrolled greed – the sure combination of which has resulted in the demise of capitalism as we know it.


- George Mitrovich, San Diego, California, USA

Not only is he (Brown) the most incompetent chancellor ever to grace British politics, he's also the unelected leader of the worst government ever to grace British politics. And it's not over. Wait until the derivatives
market nosedives, and they can no longer shore it up, that will bring the chickens home to roost. The derivatives market is worth £350 trillion, that's ten times more than there is money in the world. Still, what kind of financial mess did you expect from someone who bankrupted his own party!

- Craig Pond, Stoke-on-Trent, England.

My sister who works in finance accurately predicted all of this. Why therefore couldn't the leaders of this country?!
And therefore minimised the acute damage!
They are truly a bunch of Muppets!

- Iain MacDonald, Kingston upon Thames

"We are fighting recession with every weapon available.” every weapon apart from cutting wasteful public expenditure, apart from stopping taxpayer funded bonuses to bankers, apart from overhauling the regulatory structure, apart from protecting the strength of the pound to ensure that we have inflows of cash to pay for this extravagance, apart from cutting taxes on jobs (National insurance)...

- zady, London

For Mr Brown to say he didn't see it coming is beyond me. Does he not have a press secretary or a personal assistant who reads the papers? This clearly shows that he so out of touch with reality. Boy he is stupid or what to say somthing like that together with his cronies's comments such as green shoots, light at the end of the tunnel, increase housing sales etc... This Govt needs their head looking and come down to reality. I can see it, tom could see it Dick could see it and Harry as well. This was in the tail end of 1997. For goodnes sake, Wake up or there will be no tomorrow

- Peter Lee, London UK

Chancellor Alistair Darling also admitted that the downturn would be even worse than expected.

Would you believe this? I don't think so. The current result is the expected by the NuLabour. Mr. Brown, enough is enough. I think you and your government should leave now. If you do so, You will get the greatest respect from the British people.

- Muheed Jeeran, Colombo, Sri Lanka

Some here seem to exempt Brown from being responsible. He was central to hiking the boom. The IMF repeatedly warned him personally to avoid excessive lending.

Brown is like a bus driver speeding recklessly, who ploughs into a crowd, destroying millions of lives, then seeks praise as he says the bus is still moving. His criminal actions should pay with prison and fines.

Anyone who supports Brown, who pretends it was all someone else, is also criminally irresponsible.
Every other recession each decade had external shocks, like the 1970's oil shock. This is no different.

What level of stupidity and incompetence is needed to boast 'I ended boom and bust', just as price rises hit 30% pa?

Now complain it is a different sort of boom and bust defies belief. Like the bus driver complaining the crowd should have seen his bus comiong and got out of the way as he drove recklessly across the pavement.

Brown altered inflation measures and removed proper bank regulation. he borrowed from risky overseas suppliers and has bust the UK. Anyone pretending otherwise is deluded. The loans are triple the national debt, with unfunded pensions for the extra state jobs and welfare the total owed is £3 trillion.

'Never before has so much (£3 Trillion) be owed by so few (Brown and Darling) to so many (UK population)'.

In the private sector Brown and Darling would be in prison, fined, and banned from ever being Directors of any company.

- Jimmy, fife

He is not only to blame; truth is we all like to find a scapegoat. He never forced anyone to take out huge mortgages or go daft with credit cards. All these people who foretold this werent shouting about this last year. Always someone else's fault!

- Tony ,Essex, Harlow,UK

Now I understand. Silly me! We're having the wrong kind of recession. That will join BR's wrong kind of leaves and wrong kind of snow excuses as an absolute classic.

- Just-James, Tunbridge Wells, UK

Mr Brown had no control over the sub prime lending market, nor the buddling of bad debts into CDO’s, nor control over the credit agencies that gave those CDO’s a triple A rating. Remember most of that happened outside this country. In a globalised economy how is a national chancellor expected to control economic activity outside his country? How popular do you think the Blair/ Brown government would have been back in 2003 if they were seen to be stiffling the City of London with over regulation whilst all the time money was flowing out the UK into New York and Frankfurt? Would we have been happy to allow other countries economies to boom whilst ours lagged behind because our government was being oh so cautious, or would be accuse them of a return to old style socialist intervention and voted them out? Would the Tories have done anything different? No, of course not. The truth is no one saw this coming, not the banks, chancellors or economists and certainly not the self appointed experts on this message board. What matters now is how the crisis is handled and whether that prolongs the recession or speeds the recovery.

- Nj, London

Continued from earlier posting.......

“we are fighting recession with every weapon available”, yes, taking from pensioners, savers, raiding pension pots and also funds that were intended for charity, the national lottery, to pay for grandiose schemes or things that were the government's responsibility.

There is a huge amount of government debt which is not on the books and we are going to get a nasty shock when these are revealed, never mind the current future mortgaging of the country's income.

Unfortunately, the bailout of the banks is essential, otherwise we would be back to bartering without any system in place to receive income and/or essential borrowing (prudent).

It is farcical to suggest a government of national unity. Gordon Brown would do a Robert Mugabe and insist on the major controls, when clearly he is the wrong person for that. He got us into the mess and it needs somebody else to get us out. He is addicted to credit, credit that he will not have to repay, but we will have to repay so clearly he is not the right choice, that would be like putting an alcoholic in charge of a distillery!

Now is the time to tighten belts, and to relearn the lessons of mend and make do, something that I saw my parents do.

I remain unconvinced about David Cameron, but I do believe that he would be a far better option than the present show.

An early election is a forlorn hope, but I would nevertheless hope for it.

- Hugh, Middx

A number of people have said they saw this coming. I have been concerned about this since 2004, when people are borrowing higher and higher sums of money, lent on an insane income multipliers.

The multiple regulators put in place were clearly a mistake because it meant that different people were responsible for different areas and could be played one against the other, something that is a speciality of Gordon Brown. Previously it was the Bank of England , who when things got a little heated would increase the base rate. As unpopular as this might appear to be, I think it is a huge mistake to keep lowering the base rate. The savers vastly outnumber the borrowers, although their assets are probably dwarfed by the borrowings.

It is going to be more difficult for the borrowers on an increased base rate, and some will not be able to cope, in fact it will be a fairly high number given the number of repossessions currently ongoing, largely resulting from people borrowing more than was prudent. Everybody was going for the maximum, when the prudent course would have been to take account of possible increases and to be sure that it was within the persons means to be able to pay. Regrettably, a number of people merely increased their mortgages so that they could have more spending money.

To be continued........

- Hugh, Middx

Hang on a minute - Gordon Brown told us that he'd put an end to the "boom and bust" cycle. No wonder he did't see it coming then, he genuinely thought he stopped all that. What an absolute delusional fool.

- Jethro Payne, Streatham Common

@Roz: You are spot on. Britain has for the last 5 to 10 years sunk so low with regards to fiscal responsibility and moral compass. Without one is bad enough, but both and it was destined to end in tears. How on Earth this country can go telling other nations how to behave while it's own house is in such a mess is beyond me. We are reaping what we sowed.

A massive change of leadership that blends pragmatic conservative values, trust in the people (start by removing all the distopian technology) and compassion for those who are unable to work (for good reason), and we'll be sorted.

- Vision Aforethought, London

It isn't just the government's fault, it's also the Tories'. Since when did they provide any words or warning about the reckless management of our economy during the irreponsible boom years? I never heard them criticise the stupidly low interest rates, the excessive spending and borrowing, the skyrocketing house prices or the irresponsible greed of the city bosses once until this crisis had well and truly started. The truth is they are as incompetent as Labour.

- Matthew, London UK

The current "crisis" is deliberately manufactured by the bankers by means of the simple trick of withdrawing money from circulation so as to seize our assets. It is theft, pure and simple.

- Neil, london uk,

By by Iron Chancellor, hello Mr Bean. Truth is while Cameron my not be our man I think that we all know who pulled us out of tha last incompetence of Labour their inapropriate handling of the cash box. Like 'em or hate 'em The Conservatives have more smarts when it comes to running business than the lawyers, trade unionists, teachers, social workers and professional politicians that sit on the Labour benches.

- Christian Ball, London, UK

Lots of calls for an election and who would we choose?
Boom & Bust Brown and the crass Labour party?
I don't think so, nor do I believe that we will see a Labour Government for at least 50 years!

- Joe, Thornton Heath

The government should let nature take it's course why keep throwing money at the situation. We the tax payers have already lost huge amounts due to the bail out and as a result have sunk lower. Rather than giving the banks money they might as well privatize them instead.

- Jennifer H White, Lonfon

PM has said it all.This is where the principle of
'United we stand,Divided we fall' come into play.let the whole world come together to fight the spirit of recession.If the developed countries fail to take action now.what will happen in developing countries will never be recession but depression.

- Demola, ABERDEEN,UK

I don't understand all the "unelected" references - surely everyone with even half a brain cell who voted in 2005 knew well in advance that Blair would step down and Brown would take over at some point during that term? I seem to remember the Tory slogan "Vote Blair Get Brown" was one of the more memorable ones of that campaign. Put bluntly, if you voted Labour in 2005 and didn't know about this, then you shouldn't have been trusted with a voting slip in the first place.

- Michael, London

HELLO LONDON,
We have been through this many times before and we will get through this yet again, why?.
The people of this country are STRONG and they know what they want.
First of all we want a level playing field, secondly, we want bussinesses to stop ripping us off, and thirdly we want banks and governments to be transparent?.
This seed was sown back in the days of Thatchers government when deregulation was brought in and the family silver of GREAT BRITAIN was SOLD OFF for peanuts.
Do you remember "SID" where is he now?.All the main utilities were sold off cheap,councils joined in the spree, poll tax was replaced with another unreasonable tax, the mining industry destroyed along side families, and greed took over from all who make money who wanted more and more.
Your daily paper was filled with leaflets from banks asking how much do you want to borrow, and the price of property higher than Everest.
I am in debt like millions of people, fighting everyday to keep my head above water, but the money I earn does not reflect the prices on the high street, and many retailers are ripping people off.
The Banking and the way they run banks also rip people off, and this recession will be paid for by future generations and will be a hard slog.
People must get down to real values in all walks of life, as I said we will get through this recession because it will be you and me that will be paying for it .. FACT?.
In 2001 I took a £70 a week pay cut, Fatcats today should do now?

- John.L., Scarborough N.Yks U.K.

HSBC reported in their accounts in January 2007 that there was a problem and announced they had to make a provision for it.

Anyone borrowing to pay debts you knew they were in the wrong and just hoping something might turn up.

Gordon Brown is too busy electioneering to give a ............

The rest of us just want the country handed back to democracy, and the political class to keep their noses out so we can move forward.

- Ian, Reading, England

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE let's have a general election This ghastly, incompetent government must go ASAP! Cameron and co will do a better job.They will of course be lumbered with an appalling mess. This continuing situation will create civil unrest, an increase in the crime rate and desperation amongst the unemployed and disadvantaged.

- Lynn, Epsom Surrey

'A weak currency is the result of a weak economy.... which results from a weak Government'. (Gordon Brown, 1992).

- Andy Hulley, London

Of course he didn't see if coming, all his attention was focussed on being PM.

- Gavin, London

Who would be Prime Minister! He should do himself a favour and get rid of all those advisors he has obviously been listening to.

- Pedro, Dubai UAE

The next election is a vote between a rock and a hard place. But how should we get better politicians; it isn't an attractive profession, is it? We need people who have done other things first - and that doesn't just mean barristers and PR people.

Maybe MPs could just meet less often, and have other jobs; or would that increase corruption? Maybe we need less of them, and pay them more, with no outside interests, at all. Maybe, maybe.

- Jay, London

Funny how things always go wrong when you mix money and socialism.

Brown was criminally negligent.

- Frank, Home Counties, England

Brown didn't see the crisis coming but he should at least have seen the possibility of it . . .

Bust follows boom as surely as night follows day.

Not that it was much of an economic boom. The Labour Government sucked up most of the economic growth with massive tax rises and left ordinary people little or no better off. Then to add insult to injury just as the economy was booming the Government went on a massive borrowing binge as well.

People have known since the time of Joseph that when times are good you make provision for the famine around the corner. What on earth was Brown thinking of?

- Andrew, London

Gordon Brown is a dunce - nearly as bad as Alex Salmond

- Anglo, Sussex

Low interest rates -> rapidly expanding credit -> rapidly rising house prices -> rapidly dropping standards of lending -> rapidly rising house prices -> rapidly rising borrowing etc etc

It has been very obvious to me for a very long time that everything was going to go POP. How could he not have seen it coming? Did he really think that it was normal for normal people to have to pay massive multiples of income for 50 years just to buy a roof over their head?

Why was housing never included in his inflation targets? Rates would have gone up years ago, the bubble would have deflated, prudence would have been rewarded and housing would have remained at sensible levels.

The man is completely deluded.

- Bruce, London

The dynamics of any system have elements of innate chaos; the size of upturns and downturns are thus unpredictable; finacial systems are not immune from this general principle.

But, what could have been anticipated, however, is that earlier decisions to moderate the intensity of the current downturn could have moderated their scale. These could and should have been taken. Much tighter regulaton of the banking and financial sectors were bullets that had to be bitten. So why weren't they?

What government is prepared to take on domestic and iternational finacial interests without attracting severe and damaging retaliatory responses? Just look what has happened in seven days since the FSA permitted shortsellers to ply their corrosive trade again.

And would a Tory adminstration, so associated and aligned with the same financial interests that are largely responsible for our current plight, be any more likely than the current one to implement the necessary regulation urgently required?

- Barrie, essex UK

I saw it coming and my main source of reading literature is celeb gossip mags and i pay attention to music channels. Blimey, who'd have thought someone as emptied headed as me knew more than the person who is suppose to run our country.

- Lisa, London

Unfortunately when we have an unelected leader whose first thought every morning is "How do I save my job today?" we will be in this mess for longer than most other countries. Just tell us how it is and stop all the bull you fool. Can't help thinking a scorched earth policy is now in place in Downing St lets hope Cameron is up to the huge task ahead when he gets elected which he most certainly will. I think the real opinions of the current debacle in government will only be heard in a few years when most of the current Govt Ministers will be releasing their books in order to earn a living because their current income will be non existent by then.

- Richard, Cambridge

The man on the street has known for many months that this was going to happen. Who do these politicians think they're kidding? Wait for the "D" word next because it's more on the cards than not!

- Christo, London

I saw this coming 3 years ago does not take a genius to work out that the only thing that was keeping our economy up was stupid prices of houses - and don't forget blair & brown flooded the country with immigrants which exacerbated the housing shortage hence putting pressure on house prices - to say he did not see this coming then he obviously can't see his demise coming sooner than later I hope

- Edriordan, wisbech

“we are fighting recession with every weapon available” ..... except a change of leadership!!

"what we didn't see, and nobody saw" ... not correct - the Govt did not have the guts to open their eyes, but many outside the Govt saw this coming.

- K Achro, UK

He did not want to see the financial crisis that was looming because he wanted the perception that he was PM of a thriving, vibrant, growing economy. A blind eye was turned to the lax financial regulatory system because as long as it was making money, nobody cared. The financial irresponsibility of people racking up huge debts on their credit cards and then re-mortgaging to pay them off must have been abundantly clear to him. If he did not know of the looming crisis, what has he been doing all this time.

- Patricia, LONDON

Lot's of call for an election – but WHO on earth would we elect???!!!!!!
Cameron? I don't think so.

- Emma, london

'Pub talk' saw it coming!! Perhaps Gordon & his cohorts needed to get out more.

- Chris, Sussex, England

The question is who did.

We can all say that everyone was extending themselves or profiting from unabated rises is share prices, no was complaining when they were gaining.

However was was the cause of the meltdown. It wasn't that repossessions broke the back of Northern Rock, for example, despite critism of their lending, but that lack of credit availability. The cause of that was the toxic loans in the USA. The effect was obviously the financial meltdown.

The share price crumbled and obviously they lacked value to sustain their lending postion.

It's also time that people took responsibility for their excess and stop looking for someone else to blame.

As far as the ecomony is concerned my understanding is that, despite the recent financial package, the borrowing is still lower in terms of GDP than Germany, France Spain and most of our neighbours.

Perhaps the question to ask is who did see it coming, who actually detected the cause. Not many if your honest.

- Harry, London

perhaps in a previous life, he was the Captain of the Titanic......what iceberg? Keep on straight ahead at full speed.....ignore all the warnings.....SS UK is unsinkable!!!!!!

- Gary, amersham

All the signs were there - credit crunch, houses not selling, jobs lost on a daily basis, bank bailouts,more borrowing, falling interests [bad for savers] etc. UK is officially into recession that is of no surprise, it was just a matter of time.

Whats next? For Gordon Brown to resign? Who do we have that can do better under the circumstances? Labour, Conservatives the two leading parties need to work together, a joint venture to come up with workable strategies and government policies for a quick recovery, no time for bickering, no time to challenge for the PM's seat, it is time to act.

Gordon and Cameron start talking !

- Vasoula, London

Unbelievable!!!!!!! Brown says he didn't see the crisis coming... this man is way more foolish than he has previously led us to believe. Such an admission is nothing but the final nail in his coffin. Goodbye Gordon and thanks for getting us into this not so fine mess.

- Sharon, London

Any fool can manage a business (or country) when things are going well. Good managers/primeministers look ahead, anticipate the bad times and PLAN FOR THEM.

- Richard, Thame

Why hasn't someone called a Vote of No Confidence yet? Surely even his own party members must see what damage he is doing to Labour, let alone this country.

- Isabel, Woking

Even the big brains at the International Monetary Fund were saying three years ago that the banks were doing the right thing moving risk off their balance sheets and securitising debt. I think the ten year boom just made regulators and politicians - and most of the public - believe it would go on forever. Quite how Gordon Brown could have stopped the worst excesses on Wall Street is anybody's guess. But if it makes you feel better bashing Gordon, off you go.

- Tony Mcmahon, London, UK

How could he not see it coming? I saw it coming and I'm not an accountant or anything like that! Trillions of pounds in unsecured debt and he didn't see it coming? The word *duh* comes to mind.

- Greg Pearson, Bedford

So our unelected leader, who's reputation is solely built upon his time as chancellor didn't see this coming? Great. So the fact that house prices in London went up 300% in 10yrs, personal credit massively outpacing income growth and leverage ratios at banks being at historical highs weren't any warning sign? Time for Crash Gordon to take a basic economics course maybe?

- Mark, London

For how much longer is he going to be allowed remain in office? We need a general election NOW.

- R.F., Yorks, UK

Bankrupt Britian, anyone with any sense would seriously consider moving out of britian. The best policy would have been to allow the banks to have gone bankrupt rather than bail them out - would give gambler more money to feed their addiction - no. The Banks have alot to answer for and the only reason why GB has bailed them out is so that he can fill in a big black hole which used to be done by the banks!

- Raminder Bhalla, Northolt

An astonishing frank admission from a man who 4 weeks ago dubbed himself "the saviour of the world economy"...

It is time to go Gordon!

- Georgie, Islington, London

I saw it coming - my brother saw it coming and my daughter saw it coming. Brown just had his own agenda - me me me.

- Fred, London UK

Barclays has been sold down the river for other peoples rich gains. The shareholders have been took for mugs as usual. I defintely won't be heading for Barclays anytime soon and I doubt most other people will.

As far as the Arabs now part owning it. Good on them but Id rather stick to those corrupt British lot or id have to accept that the country has now crumbled and were now run by Arabs...

- Dc, London

We should not bring politics in to this problem so call a General Election and let the people decide who they want to deal with it!

- Joe, Thornton Heath

I agree that Brown probably does not know where to go next but can anyone honestly say that George Osborne knows better? I do not think that an election would be good for the Tories now. The shadow cabinet is not known to the voting public and with the exception of David Cameron, neither liked nor convinced of their pedigree. We would probably end up with a hung parliament. I would argue we need to wait a few more months so the party can benefit from the huge Ken Clarke effect and then win with a good margin.

- Daniel, London

The reason that Gormless urges the rest of the world to join in on his spending frenzy is that our banks have billions in toxic debts abroad. This happened on your watch Gormless and you were the architect of it. Do one decent thing in your life and resign.

- Roger, Surrey

He didn't see it coming when he was chancellor for 10 years? Or is he trying to say that he didn't see it coming on his watch and was hoping he could blame it on the next ruling party? Idiots, we are surrounded by idiots with too much power

- S-M Hearmon, London, UK

First honest thing that Brown has said. For years he fooled everyone else that Britain was past boom and bust cycle. During days of prosperity instead of being prudent, he took savings out of people through stealth taxes, eg. on pension funds, and spent merrily as though there was no tomorrow. Now that has hit the fan, he is trying desperately to cling on to power by mortgaging our future to the tune of trillions of pounds. For the first time, Britain faces the ignomy of the credit institions downgrading the country's credit rating. He brought us this mess: contrary to his claim, this does not qualify him to get us out of the mess.

- Nat, New Malden, UK

Brown hiked the Boom, while amazingly bleating 'I ended Boom and Bust'! Brown and friend Fred of RBS are in the same category, both clawed their way to power, and drunk on loans and spending, unable to see huge risks of their immoral irresponsibility which has destroyed millions and the reputation of the UK.

The UK situation is a larger version of RBS, RBS was worth £35 billion on inflated values, and it borrowed against that. Now £4bn and falling.


- Jimmy Scot, fife

He never saw that the huge iceberg of easy credit that he created to pay for his wacky big brother schemes would sink us. All sane people saw 2 or 3 years ago that should there be an economic downturn Britain would be in serious trouble. I saw it and all my friends saw it, so it is risible to say he, the arrogant one, did not see it. I am just so fed up with his lies and those of his front bench. I have never felt so angry or felt so betrayed by a government. They have broken our society and mortgaged our futures, as I write my anger is turning to rage.

- Richard K, Nottingham

what else is this unelected macbroon going to admit to not understanding after bumbling with economy for ten years?

- L Selby, glasgow, scotland

Why can't he be replaced? I think one will look back and not believe that somebody like that can actually ever have been Prime Minister.

- Chris, London

Mr Brown why dont you have an election now and let the people decide,you are not going to save the world.

- Martin, sheffield

This man is in total denial about his own mismanagement of the economy,any idiot could see that tough times were coming because economies never ever just keep on growing.
He over borrowed,changed his own golden rules for political expediancy,sold the gold reserves at a knock down price,mucked up the pensions,built a huge unproductive bureaucracy,raised taxes,changed the banking controls via setting up the useless FSA and wasted our taxpayers money.
AND HE thought he was brilliant......the man is a total failure but unfortunately he is Prime Minister...unelected.

- Nigel, wimbledon

Brown's constant whingeing about the UK being a victim of a global meltdown doesn't wash any more.
He constantly refuses to acknowledge that his governments policies have played a major part in our downfall.
Its surely a case of the emperor has no clothes....

- Adrian, bexley

Dear Mr Brown

Perhaps it is time to form a cross party emergency working group to deal with this mess as it is clear from the activities to date that neither your cabinet or party has the necessary skills to complete the task.

- Wallytrader, London

He didnt see anything coming, as he was too busy workming his way into power, without having the courage to face the electorate. Resign Mr Brown & let someone else try & repair the damage, before its too late.

- Robbie G, London

To Gordon Brown
Why not hold a general election and see what a change of government will bring. Then call a truce between all parties and then work together and try and get us out of this mess with a coalition government with either one of the parties who wins the election being in charge. After all what harm will it do and it may bring and end to this constant war in westminster.

- Andrew Lees, Halifax

How could anyone not see it coming . . . ?! No-one was making any real money, but they were all spending it. Boob-job, chocolate fountain set, cuddly toy, garden furniture . . . where was the future in any it? The Government could have intervened at a very simple level to ban TV advertisements offering loans (secured on your house!) to go on holiday - but instead it got on the band wagon and spent millions telling people how to take out even more loans, to ensure consumers continued to spend and produce Revenue.

Perhaps Gordon Brown could now retire gracefully, lose his 'moral compass' and have the honesty to pursue his gambling habit with his own money at one of the Government's new Super Casinos.

- Roz, Chamonix, France

It all very well for Gordon Brown to blame 'lax banking practices and standards' but it should not be forgotten that he established the financial regulatory system in this country! Mr Brown has always been very quick to claim the glory but is silent when things go wrong. I truly believe he is completely out of his depth and just does not know what to do. Very worrying.

- David Summers, London

He did not see the financial crisis coming and he was the Chancellor? He was obviously not up to the job and got promoted out of harms way like bankers do.

- Tom, Watford (UK)

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