Also what happens if everyone who is entitled to benefit would finally pluck up the courage or remove their own misconceived shame, filled in all the forms to claim their benefits entitlement, not to mention the Child Trust Funds, and the inevitable compensation arising from Equitable Life.

We do know what NR have been borrowing. We have quarterly figures for the amount being borrowed.

1. We don’t know the rate they are paying.
2. We don’t even know if they have paid any interest.

In otherwords we are being kept in the dark about the losses.

That is intolerable if you are playing with tax payer’s money.

We are getting hints that its 1.5 trillion on the guarantee front for the other banks. Given we can find out the CDS rate for the banks, and the guarantee is at least 5 years, practically, we can work out what should be paid for the guarantee.

Chances of it being paid, zero

Try reformating into a fixed width font the details, and it’s laid out better.

Reply: I think David Cameron should appoint who he wishes. Mr Osborne has my full support. I think BERR should be abolished to save money, with the bits we do need going to HMT, and with regulatory budgets runs form the Cabinet Office to begin getting down the costs of those regulations that are needless and contradictory.

33 Billion down. You need to include the 9 billion that’s gone from the FSCS.

Does anyone actually know what penal rate of interest Northern rock is paying? And whether its actually paid anything or if the penal rate is being rolled over?

Nick
Reply: Thanks for that – very useful. I do not know the Rock rate.

Alan Jutson mentions the Post Office pension fund deficit.

What I find puzzling, is why the Conservatives are promising to support the Govt in their proposed partial sell off. Govt gets its hands on a few quid from TNT or someone else AND immediately takes over £20 billion of PO pension fund real assets. This in exchange for a promise to keep on paying the pensions into the future, out of tax revenue (and probably out of office).

You don’t imagine that much of that £20 billion will still be there for when you take over next year, do you? Are you sure that Cameron has his tactics right on this? Why can’t he oppose the Govt’s bill, cause it to fall, embarass Brown and save the family jewels for later. I feel sure that in a year or so, Cameron will find it expedient to review the situation.

Btw, isn’t Brown due for a vote of confidence sometime soon?

And UK PLC is of course proposing to sell 30% of the Mail to the private sector, so this should minimise any danger of exposure to profits from the business in the future.

It is good to find one source of sense amidst the rubbish churned out by the lorry load, thank you.

Derek