Transparency Mr.Bown?

Gordon Brown quite rightly asks for transparency from the banking industry. Nobody really knows how much and of what nature these toxic loans are. Even the bonus bagging bosses are at a loss to remember anything about them.

Now we have Frozen Brain Syndrome which is only alleviated by global warming. Iceland is the country that has given us this problem. Somehow a small country could become a major player in the financial markets. It's all unravelling faster than badly knitted cardigan.

Apparently loads of organisations have money invested in Icelandic "financial vehicles". They are now remembering that they stuffed loads of other peoples money in these too-good-to-be true accounts. The latest outfit to get its memory back is the Audit Commission. It has "admitted" it has £10m tied up in Iceland's troubled banks. How many more are waiting to spill the beans? The Audit Commission is supposed to save money not gamble it on such ventures.

Let's have an Own Up To Icelandic Bank Deposits day. We should know once and for all who has or has not got money stashed away in these accounts. Transparency is what we want. Gordon Brown is right on the nail here. The drip drip of leaked information is not transparency. It is very much the opposite.

The treasurer's gone to Iceland!

On the Today Programme, John Humphrys was gamely trying to get someone to own up to something. I wasn't holding my breath. Not many people these days admit to anything.

A councillor on Kent County Council, who oversees the finance department, was talking merrily about putting a load of cash into Icelandic banks. It was OK he said because only a week ago Moodys and other such pundit organisations said these Icelandic banks were top-notch kosher! The Conservatives reckon that the local councils have around a £billion in Iceland banks. Good place to get your bank accounts frozen!

John Humphrys was incredulous. The councillor kept up his prattle about believing all things. Now it seems common sense has left a lot of people. I have nothing against Iceland, but many have been rather alarmed at how a country of around 250,000 people, who mostly hold down two jobs, can be running up such mega-dollar lending and borrowing programmes.

The councillor had heard apparently of the questions but no bad vibes hit Kent! The old sayings "It's too good to be true!" and "A fool and his money are soon parted" come to play.

Even now, Gordon Brown won't get down to basics. These ferral credit crunchers have crunched us good and proper. They talk as if NOBODY knew a damn thing. It is all so maddening. So............ I'm about to explode!

£500 billion could build 1250 brand-spanking new hospitals. So why don't we get these bonus baggers to put something back. Charity begins at home, so they say, so let the bank bosses start with their pockets before they come picking in ours!