I just find it difficult to believe that, while the country is facing record levels of debt and penury, GB is smiling, laughing and "cracking jokes"!

Statesmanlike?
Hardly!
Let us not forget however, that GB now has more control over the country than TB ever did.

Martyn taylor, Swindon, England (wot's left of it!)

James, London, 'accuses' investors of buying when they feel they can make a gain and selling when they think they won't. Um, OK James.... How exactly did you think investing worked? I pity the performance of your portfolio, if you only buy when a crash is guaranteed to follow!

johnny, london,

Niall Orr, well done some sense at last. As a PM I do not like Brown BUT how in heavens name can you blame Brown for a plan devised in the USA and sold to stupid bankers around the world? This hate Brown no matter what is just plain stupid and shows a lack of understanding of the situation.

Lloyd, London,

Dead cat and dead rat. RBS are not allowed to pay dividends until the money the govt put in the preference shares has been paid back. That'll put current and, maybe more importantly, potential future shareholders off buying their shares. How that helps the markets I don't know.

Karen, Bristol,

R. of London suggest banning shorting altogether - Short sellers led the market down, they are getting punishment enough as they are forced to buy back in this huge rise. This is the market's own and effective form of regulation.

Jean, Brussels, Belgium

Brown's global posturing doesn't disguise the fact that 10 years of his economic stewardship have left us with a wartime level of national debt. As a result the £ is tanking, and despite the massive fall-back in the price of oil and other commodities, our petrol, food and power costs will stay high

Martin, London,

Iceland denied turning to the IMF with regards to a loan; Barclays denies it needs the subsidizing money the govt offers and so on and so forth. Everyone denies having asked for help. Things are still very fragile I take it.

Karen, Bristol,

It is nonsense to suggest returning to last year's lending levels will return us to the same bubble that has just burst.
We are about to enter a long period where people will not trust the financial system to anything like the same extent they did. Confidence has collapsed.

tony, sheffield, UK

Andy of Doncaster, best hope it is not a dead cat bounce, as nearly everyone has a stake in the cat, directly or indirectly. For once I think GB is doing the right thing, but more can be done, like banning shorting altogether as shorters are probably going to target commodities companies next.

R, London,

Anthony in birmingham,
better to spend taxpayers money on stablising our fragile economy than letting our entire financial sector collapse. Furthermore, this problem clearly goes way beyond any single party or country.. stop using this as an excuse to blame labor all the time.

jack, Lincoln,

Is this a dead kangaroo bounce rather than a dead cat bounce?

Nathan, Sydney, Australia

Gordon Brown is striving to restore confidence back in to the UK economy - and is doing a good job considering. People need to get behind him rather than blaming him - it's not his fault, it's a global crisis! Is there a better alternative plan or Prime Minister to revive the financial system?

Niall Orr, Sydney, Australia

Bruce, they've been throwing nothing but the kictchen sink for the past 100 years; hence the escalation amounting to throwing the entire bathroom range at John Lewis in their general direction.

Alex, London,

They thought the dead cat bounced in 1929 too. Nothing will change until we all learn to live within the means of this planet and the people on it

Udo, Melbourne, Australia

oh well, the old systems play themselves out. greed and selfishness get rewarded, the rich get off. i hope next time i go into overdraft the government capitalises my account. investors are the biggest cowards, they run when there are problems and now come running back when its a bit safer; pathetic

James, London, UK

So now they've thrown the kitchen sink at the markets: what's in reserve when the next shock come along (as it most assuredly will.)

Bruce Robertson, Brighton, UK

If GB believes that it is OK to try and boost his popularity by spending hundreds of billions of taxpayers pounds he is badly mistaken. Resuming 2007 debt levels will only make things worse...it was that what caused the problem in the first place. Is he trying to bankrupt the country?

Anthony Lester, Brum,

How high can a dead cat bounce?

Andy, Doncaster,

Good, this is what was what was required, however, lest us not forget the party that caused the Mutany. Also remember that now as we, the UK, create more of 'promise to pay the bearer', we may see further mutineers. God Speed!

Mark, London, UK