[Margaret Pilkington]

No, Of course not Eric...but there seemed to a general acceptance that debt was alright...in fact that it was good to have some debt. A maxim that I haven't ever really admired or aspired to. I was once told that my credit rating would be rubbish because I had no track record of Credit......even paying off my mortgage 5 years before it was required to be repaid.

There was a lot of mismanagement of money by the banks....lending money for mortgages on the assumption that the housing market would stay buoyant.......which it did for a long time......but lending 110% on a property puts you in negative equity right from the start....and lending to couples who were cohabiting...

Ok, I know that marriage is no guarantee that folk will stay together, but I think if you are married, then perhaps you don't see your partnership as quite so 'disposable'.
As I said, there were many things that were wrong....and I daresay that these were known and were 'risked' because it was the line of least defence.......anyway, it is as sure as eggs are eggs we are going to be paying for these MCU's(monumental cock ups) for a very long time to come.

As for the Euro, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the New Year sees it dead in the water...and all the money put in to save it, will have gone down the gurgler...all to save face!