The Cost of the Rock

Our Chancellor has finally got around to nationalising the country's biggest liability - Northern Rock. It has been about as popular as a paedophile in the News of the World Headquarters, but I am not going to lambast Darling for this latest act of incompetence. After all, he is only obeying the orders of his evil overlord.

But a few things are worth commenting on. First of all, there were bids from the private sector to run Northern Rock. Now, far be it from me to suggest that those who run successful businesses are more capable of dealing with the Northern Rock fiasco that the badger faced cunt and the man who makes Droopy the Dog look like the Joker, but really... the government offers the best "value for money"? This government? The government that has taken pissing money away and turned it into an artform? That is just crass.

And this is just reverting to the policies of the post war Labour governments - if there is a problem, nationalise it! If there is a chance, nationalise it! And as it turns out, this was a sure fire way of getting Labour voted out of power and into opposition for the next 18 years. So maybe this wasn't such a bad government decision... Although the extent to which this is a government decision is open to question. After all, hasn't Vince Cable been calling for this course of action for ages? It really comes to something when the Labour PM is following not even the Lib Dem leader, but rather a former Acting Lib Dem leader*.

Finally, just how much has this cost us? And how much is it going to cost us before we, as a nation, get to sell this failed business back to the shareholders? I've no idea of either figure, but I would like to know. In fact, I would like to know on a daily basis. So how about this. How about someone with some technological ability creates a blog button or similar facility that counts, each and every day, how much we, as taxpayers, are expected to cunt away on Northern Rock? Like a less hysterical, and more fiscal, version of the hyperlinks to the Religion of Peace.

Because, rest assured, this is not nationalisation. This is you, the taxpayer, subsidising a failed business even more. And given Darling's announcement, we ain't going to stop paying for the Rock for a good long while now.

*And there is every chance that, when the history books are written, that Cable will be seen to have had more impact on national politics not just that both his predecessor and successor as Lib Dem leaders, but also than most of the empty suits who populate Brown's Cabinet. Darling included.