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At 14:27 22/11/2007, you wrote: >Does anyone think there is anything unusual in Northern Rock's >operations, competence, management compared to other banks? > >Does anyone think that management of banks and banking is carried out >by managers strikingly different in competence, honesty, motives, you >name it, from other areas of infrastructure and commerce? > >One might go on and name specific great institutions and offices of >our society, but you get the point. From what has been said in the media, without any great study: There was indeed an unusual business plan in operation at Northern Rock. Like many new ideas it had some appeal, and its weakness are only so very obvious in retrospect. Broadly speaking I work on the basis that while few people are saintly 75 - 85% are not innately bad. This is somewhat in accord with the numbers who end up in prison (or should do), but nowhere near the number who now have a UK criminal conviction since we've tried (in my opinion utterly foolishly) to criminalize the majority of the population. All large business have failings, and in the end all large businesses will fail. However I would not call for the dismantling of the NHS because of Shipman, and without further information would not be minded to call for the destruction of BT without evidence of thousands of failings. As a big organization it will mess up. We have consumer protection legislation and the courts as well as (I believe) a telecom regulator. Is there something we should know? Julian