Now we own a bank. A rundown out-of-pocket bank. A bank that the government (us, the gullibly stupid taxpayers) had to bail out to the tune of God knows how many billions. And now we the government owns it:

Northern Rock is to be nationalised as a temporary measure, Chancellor Alistair Darling has said.

Neither of the two private proposals to take over the beleaguered bank offered “sufficient value for money to the taxpayer”, Mr Darling said.

The strange thing is though, that Virgin was interested in the bank. And we know that Virgin does tend to run profitable businesses. It’s not like Sir Richard would take over a losing firm, now would he? Darling didn’t think so though, and Sir Richard made his thoughts known:

Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson criticised the government’s decision: “We believe we had a very strong proposal, an experienced team and one of Britain’s best brands.

“We believe nationalisation is not the right answer and that a commercial solution would have been the best way forward.”

Back to the Labour of the 1970′s. Not that I remember it mind you, but it’s frightening nonetheless.

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