A bookmaker would not accept a bet that the Houses of Parliament lie to the west of the Greenwich meridian, because it is a fact that they do, with no element of a chance that they do not. By the same token, insurance companies do not issue policies involving paying out against what is inevitable, but only against the prospect of a risk that some specified event might occur. Thus it is undisputed...

The national debt is likely to be exceed £2 trillion following the Treasury’s decision to stand behind Britain’s troubled banks’ debts. The latest Government figures emphasise fears about the impact of the crisis on the taxpayer and may spark further anxieties over Britain’s creditworthiness.

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has voted unanimously to seek Government permission to increase the amount of money in the economy as interest rate cuts lose their power to fight recession.

The news just goes on getting worse… and worse. Britain could be stripped of its prized AAA credit rating as a result of the Government’s latest bank bail-out, potentially jeopardising any economic recovery, according to rating agency Standard & Poor’s.