Now that Northern Rock is being nationalised, do you realise that through the bank's sponsorship of Newcastle United you and I and every other tax payer in the UK is helping to pay Michael Owen's wages?
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that your money is helping to add to the wealth of a multi-millionaire football player? I can hardly stop turning cartwheels, I'm so delighted.
You really couldn't make it up, could you?
One other thing occurs to me: what happens now if Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB, Abbey, or even the much loathed HSBC, or Goldman Sachs, or Merrill Lynch, or Morgan Stanley, threaten to go bust? Do we step in and rescue them too? And if we are going to rescue banks by nationalising them, on what grounds do we protest if other countries do the same? And why is it one law for white collar workers whose jobs are under threat, and quite another for blue collar workers whose jobs have been so readily sacrificed over the past 30 years?
Oh, and finally, now that the UK Government has a vested interest in the stability and overall health of the UK housing market, does that mean we can expect a further cut in interest rates here, sooner rather than later? This could be a TRUE test of the Bank of England's 'independence'...
