The Northern Rock millstone

Oh dear.  Remember when the Government bailed out Northern Rock at a cost of over £100 billion?  It's fine - we were told - the company would repay the debt in good time.  Well, that's looking a little less likely today.  The new executive team have told the Treasury that if the economy plunges into a '92-style recession then they can forget about their repayment schedules.  Ok, so it's a fairly large 'if' - but it's still the most definite sign, so far, that things may not run as smoothly as we were told.