It's Still Rock & Roll to me!

And so the Government has confirmed that Northern Rock will increase mortgage lending by up to £14 billion over the next two years. Evidently a strategy has been agreed so that £5 billion of new mortgage lending will be available for 2009 and three to nine billion pounds from 2010 on. That is if, of course, there is a market demand for it.

We are told that the new lending will be on good commercial terms to ensure it represents good value for money (for the taxpayer one hopes) and will allow Northern Rock to get back into the mortgage market with a variety of products on offer. We are also told that the mortgage side of the business will be managed separately following restructuring.

The Government has further said that it “wants to see a well functioning mortgage market where lenders lend responsibly and borrowers have access to a wide range of mortgages that they can afford to repay” (don’t we all).

In certain respects, well done to the Government. But does this also mean that we, the taxpayers, as the owners of Northern Rock and therefore the employer, have the right to ensure that there are no contract clauses which will make it necessary to pay out bonuses (huge or otherwise) to anyone unless they really deserve it? Probably not. Who else believes that once this current crisis/recession/dip – call it what you like – is over, the Government and the bankers will just go back to the greedy self serving individuals they were before? It is very often amazing what is NOT learned from hindsight!