any comments, thoughts, on this stock.

not the gov't that's for sure! .... nor does BoE have any say, and nor should it, in controlling to whom and what terms NRK or any other institution lends, always assuming that it is legal.

Brown must be quaking in his boots over this situation. A situation that has been totally mishandled from the start. Whoever is to blame be it the gov. the BOE or the FSA or combination of all of these, the collapse of NRK would cause one almighty stink and will lose him a few votes. NRK is not just a bank from Brown's viewpoint. It would mean job loses and small shareholders being wiped out. He may be totally useless and detrimental to the economy but, unfortunately, he is no fool and some compromise between interested parties will be found.

there is no (meaningful) backlash whatsoever aimed at Mr B and his merry gang - the polls make this abundantly clear ...... you are right to say Mr B is no fool, and hence why the gov't will absolutely correctly keep its distance and let matters unfold of their own accord ...... for sure the shareholders will get nothing back, but that is nothing new when any company goes belly up ...... further, job losses will not be significant, and undoubtedly a damn sight less than those associated with Ford or similar when they shut their factories.

I am sure he is doing his best to keep his distance but, with electioneering in the offing it could well go against him. I am not sure he can be seen to be at the distance he would prefer, although he is a master at keeping a low profile at the right time. Agreed, job losses not on large scale, but this is a bank with Northern roots and the press would be scathing. Brown knows this may cause a backlash and could be blown up out of proportion.

clearly you are one of the Tory supporters who will grab at any straw in the hope that it will change the outcome of the elction ...... more chance of AMER or GOO hitting a gusher in the next 3 months

I am not grabbing at any straw and has nothing to do with my politics. I was trying to look at the situation from Brown's view point. He has plenty of negative things on his plate without another such situation adding to the potential mire. Perhaps he will be happy to rely on oppinion polls then.

wouldn't you? ...... Brown would be in genuine and deserved deep water if either gov't or BoE came to the aid of the ordinary investor ..... that really would hand the Tories a realistic chance!

Brown's continued refusal to allow a referendum on EU constitution is likely to be far more damaging, but at the moment he wears a teflon overcoat

surprisingly light volumes today ..... only 8m so far

Blame?
Take your pick. Any of the following 3.
The treasury for the rules which allowed NRK to head deeper and deeper into it.
The FSA for applying those rules in such a way that meant NRK had to lend money it did not need, therfore going public and causing a run on the bank(s).
The NRK board for following a cavalier approach to business with other peoples money.
Arguably, its all 3, but its also a world wide phenomenon. Look at our friends across the pond and the european banks facing very similar issues.
Difficult to pin blame on a single countries politicians for a world wide event, though I think some blame lies there.
For my money, the board needs replacing and the FSA needs to hand banking and retail policing to someone who understands it.

Agree with you about EU referendum position. Re NRK a complete wipe out for shareholders could reflect badly on the government when the press start dishing out the blame. He may get lucky, then he may not.

It got to 150p then, still not buying I may go in at 50p

Agree with what you say hewittalan6. I was just trying to look at it from the govt view point with an election coming up.

I have a thing about the FSA, so I love the idea of attaching blame to them.
Since their inception they have overseen (orchestrated) many financial scandals and have somehow managed to make life impossible for many financial businesses.
They have also overseen the decimation of "industrial branch" financial advice and then bemoaned the lack of it. They have made "profit" a dirty word, then bemoaned the lack of professionalism in the industry, and just when we believe they are as bad as they can get, they replace prescriptive rules with statements of principle then leave the industry to work out what the hell they mean, with them waiting to prosecute when the industry gets it wrong.
That kind of track record and muddle headedness is bound to lead to many more NRK scenarios.
There. Blast over.

alan .... do you want to see lending pretty much government controlled, for i certainly don't ..... if you concur, then so long as the financial institutions stay within the rules of the time, there is no blame to level other than at the board(s) of the institutions that find themselves in a deep hole.

i actually find it more than a little sad that whenever something goes wrong, whether it is an NRK that goes bankrupt, or someone trips over a slightly raised paving stone, or falls down the restaurant stairs when somewhat inebriated, blame has to be attached elsewhere, preferably with some swingeing fine or similar attaching.

Do you remember to BCCI?

yes, but certainly not the detail .... i supect you are saying that in that instance there was some malfeasance or similar ..... so far, NRK have shown nothing worse that (gross) incompetence

What I was alluding to is at that time the BOE was condemned by depositors for granting BCCI a banking licence and thereafter not properly monitoring their activities.

what was the final outcome? ..... was BCCI actually a UK company? .... were the depositors protected? .... were there any criminal charges?

No cynic. I prefer caveat emptor.

Cynic... yes...no....yes.