Government measures fail to halt severe decline of British economy
By Chris Talbot
19 February 2009
Recent economic data and forecasts reveal the dire state of the UK economy and the failure of measures introduced by the Labour government and Prime Minister Gordon Brown to arrest the continuing decline.
Peter Mandelson exploded at the chief of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, at a diplomatic cocktail reception in New York yesterday.
Mandelson accused him of spreading unnecessary gloom, "Why should I have this guy running down the country? Who the f**k is he? How the hell are they [Starbucks] doing?"
Shares in Lloyds fell by 32 percent last Friday after it was announced that losses in its HBOS subsidiary were expected to reach nearly £11 billion ($15.6 billion).
have now fallen by 80 percent
"told him the government would waive competition regulations if Lloyds were to merge with HBOS"
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), now 80 percent owned by the government,
write off some £20 billion
clipped from: www.wsws.org