Rule Number One for central banks in a crisis - Lend Willingly, Lend Expensively. That way, there is no banking collapse, but the bad boys and girls take some punishment.

Frank Upton, Solihull,

What absolute nonsense. Everytime there is a cash crisis because of bad business decisions, should the BoE feel obliged to bail out the suspects? I am sure every high street bank/builing society should then be required to bail out every individual debtor who may default on his loan under a credit card. Rather than questioning ECB's and Federal Reserves' decision to pump money in, we are question Mervyn King's prudence. What next, lets all take out tens of credit cards and live a life in debt. After all more money can always be printed, if this article is anything to go by.

Prabhat, UK,

I am fascinated by your description of John Mcfall et al as "highly educated". None appear to have any relevant "education" or experience.
A bunch of political failures, Gordon's sycophants, desparately stuggling to find a scape-goat seems a more apposite description.

Mike Bibby, St Albans, England -not EU

This article seems rather at odds with the one you wrote on 30th August -"Disasters of the Universe". Actually that one was not very accurate either. The fact is that we're in this position not through stupidity, but through fraud. Strong words you may say. But we are in a world of "self-certification" where mortgage seekers divide the cost of a house by 5 to get their "salary" rather than the reverse. Indeed in some cases, according to a recent US investigator, a much higher salary has been entered on mortgage documentation in order to make the position look less risky and hence easier to sell on to the unwary investor. That is fraud and until the existing legislation is brought to bear on the perpetrators, both here and in the US, we will always be on the brink of a serious crash.

Of course without such "devices" property prices would not be quite as high as they are so there may well be vested interests in deflecting attention to the entirely blameless Mr King.

Graham Davidson, Aberdeen,

If anyone thinks the Bank of England is independent from politicians forget it, The funding structure of Northern Rock went against every rule of prudent banking. The FRA is a joke organization created by politicians to remove proper surveillance of the financial system, this allowed the terrible lending practices which have kept this Government in power. Fill the major positions in the regulatory and central banking framework with stooges and then goose the economy, a good formula for re-election but disasterous in the long run for the country and it's people.

A.Scott, Bangkok, Thailand

Northern Rock borrowed short and lent long - gambling that no credit event would catch them out. It is Northern Rock's management which should be in the dock for risking their depositors money.

Arnold Ward, Weybridge, Surrey, UK

No, no, no. Mr King is the only one to have acted with integrity during this debacle. You are irresponsibly colluding with Westminster to find a scapegoat and believe that Mr King is the ideal fall guy - how convenient. A far better article has just appeared on the BBC news website by their economics correspondent, perfectly illustrating the current situation with the analogy of irresponsible mountain climbers and a chief of rescue services with a helicopter. I would suggest that your readers take a look before swallowing your poor arguments.

Alice, London,

Totally wrong,it is the head of the FSA who should be looking for a new job.The FSA has the job of regulating the banks and it clearly was not doing its job.It has(and still is allowing this risky lending to carry on).What about the board of Northern Rock,thay decided on the lending they were doing.
What worries me in all this,is the degree of involvement between those running Northern Rock and the Labour Government.Did that effect the decision of the Treasury,plus messrs Darling and Brown?Why do you not investigate that?

Nigel Wheatcroft, wimbledon, uk

The mistake in the handling of this fiasco was not the BoE's decision not to bail them out - but rather the government's decision TO underwrite them. Capitalism and the free market is about allowing BOTH success and failture.

Removing the risk of failture only encourages irresponsible behaviour - whether from the banks, the investors or even customers - and is in the end going to cause far more damage to confidence than allowing them to suffere the consequences of their risky behaviour.

Dominic Graham de Montrose, London,

Another NULAB journo spinning for Gordon. Thank God for Mervyn King's skillful and steadfast action. Their is no lack of confidence in the banking system, only in Northern Wreck and quite rightly so. They were the biggest leveraged gamblers in the banking industry and it is right their profligacy has been exposed and they have been punished. King has acted impeccably despite the quite obvious attempts at trying to oust him. The FSA on the other hand should all be sacked for failing to put NR out of business much earlier. Thank you Mervyn.

John Smith, Manchester, UK

Surely if the BoE had immediatly offered help to NR then in the future all the banks would start to run the same kind of risks that NR did. This will only result in even more banks getting into trouble the next time something like this happens. What has resulted now is that the owners (share holders) who were ultimatly reponsible for NR's business model have suffered but the depositors have not. Surely not a terrible outcome...

Andrew Hodge, London,

the party is bound to end one day, this boom has been going on for too long, and it has been kept going precisely because of the fed, it keeps pumping money to prop things up, and cuts interest rates everytime. those prudent ones who leave the party at each stage, find that because of the fed propping things up, the party still goes on, and these prudent guys find that the reckless continue to make money. king is at least a strong man who wants to do the right thing, he wants to break the cycle, but as u can see, people panic, and it is near impossible to let the air out of this boom in a controlled fashion. once a leak starts, it will end in a blow out. its just a matter of time before it blows, and no amount of money thrown at it by the fed will stop it. and the longer it is delayed, the worst the recession. dont blame the messenger. this kettle is ready to blow for years, and had been kept artificially working but the day will come when it wont be stoppered.

anthony wong, london, uk

There was a time when the Governor of the Bank of England would only have been known by his signature on our currency. Today the Governor is a sleeping partner in Cabinet with the onerous duty of analysing the economy’s performance and setting interest rates. A few weeks ago Mr King opined how could he set the rate with any surety when the Government was not supplying him with all the statistics that would enable accurate forecasting? That statistic was to do with immigration but how many other figures does he feel unable to prise out of the legislation? The B of E Monetary Committee is a bodge, a measure that in good times has little to do and who in hard times is too pivotal. The Government does the long term planning and the Bank's Committee acts largely in retrospect, it seems ridiculous that the too functions are not unified considering the effect that the former has on the latter. Mervyn is now the fall guy for an economy that trades in houses and not manufactures.

Malcolm Turner, Alsager, England

Having listened to MK yesterday it was clear that his hands were tied by legislation making it impossible to do what was best. it is also became clear that the FSA has a lot to answer for. It is there that the axe needs to be wielded. They have completely lost control over the City where short-sellers have infiltrated every organisation. "The FSA to investigate irregular trading in Northern Rock" is the latest joke circulating around the watering holes. Somebody leaked the fact that the BOE had agreed to act as a lender of last resort to NR to the BBC, knowing full well what they would do with it and what impact it would have. it will not stop there, if no action is taken, If they are allowed to succeed with NR, A&L, B&B will be next. They even had a go at HBOS yesterday! We should wake up and recognise that there is something very rotten in the heart of our financial system, which the FSA allowed to develop. If you need someone to blame look no further than Sir Callum McCarthy

simon davis, tunbridge wells, kent

How wrong can an article be?

Doug, Aberdeen,

THis is riciculous and scandalous the manner in whihc Mr King is being treated - it is the government in the shape of those 2 again (Brown and Blair) that should carry the can....... they would or at least should have known what a calamity / fragile structure was being created. Leave Mr King alone - he is only the monkey / puppet (whatever you want to call him) -- but he is not the one(s) that have been pulling the strings and let this situation be created.

Tommy, Belfast,

I accept that you support the view of the City. That is no problem.
But I would like to invite you to express your views on the situation where any bubble is allowed to grow indefinitely with the evident support of the Central Banks of this world.
A situation in effect where money is pumped into the economy in infinite quantities , more or less as it is now in Japan en Zimbabwe.
In the end money will be worth virtually nothing. You know that perfectly well!!

M van Egdom, Rhenen, Holland

So the real cause is actually EU legislation yet again. It seems that whenever anything goes seriously wrong it is EU legislation that prevents the necessary corrective action.
Lets face it the other big offender is the protection system that has failed to increase the protection levels in line with the devalued currency. Set at even £100,000 how long would the queues be?

D Cage, Highworth, Wilts UK

Let me understand the problem.
Irrespective of the fact that current inflation using the flawed cpi measure is contained, there are reasonable grounds for assuming that there are significant future inflationary seeds in the system. We also have a problem because money has been too cheap because interest rates have been held too low for too long.
The Governor of the BOE appears to recognise these dangers and does not want to flood the market with inflationary pounds.
What has been proposed to him is to do just that and also reduce interest rates in order to bail out well paid city traders.
If we ignore his advice we will all have a heavy price to pay, with the exception of the city traders who will have banked their city bonuses and traded them into a safer currency.

JM, NI, UK

I think King did the right thing. Banks, however vital they are, are private institutions and need to take responsibility for the risk they take. And the deposit insurance scheme is not enough, it ought to ensure at least £100000. I think the queues at Northern Rock sent the right signal to the Banks and the Consumers: high risk can lead to share price loss and borrowing has to be reasonible. People have been overstretching themselves because they think house price inflation can provide them with a high lifestyle. I hope they realise that this is over.

David, Tunbridge Wells, UK

We should learn from this, rather than excoriate merv. Surely the FSA, which has instituted a range of mindless regulation, could have sensible regulation along the lines of if an institution has to be baled out then management, shareholders, and corporate creditors, need to bear some of the pain. I would rather put northern Rock into administration, then guarantee retail deposits, and go into a run off. Shareholders lose their shirt, management should not be allowed to govern a financial institution again, and corporate creditors would get what the assets are worth...but not suffer from illiquidity. It is illiquidity not insolvency which is the systemic risk; ask the Japanese how they feel about not writing down bad loans in time....

Danny Cap, Timbuktu,

I wish we had the Bank of England rather than bubblemasters here in the US. Lower short rates does nothing to address the problems at hand. Take a look at the US dollar now miss know it all. Our long rates will rise since so much of our long bonds are held by foreigners and foreign central banks who will be wary of stepping up to the place at Treasury auction. All fixed rate mortgages and corporate debt is tied to the long rates and thus by piddling away our currency, foreigners are going to go to countries that are raising rates. The only winner with the short rates going down are the brokerage houses. Last winter the broker dealers were awarded billions of dollars in bonuses and now the poor tax paying schmuck will be left holding the bag. It takes strength for the BOE to stand up to those abusing the system and trying to hold the economy hostage. Be careful what you wish for..

G Wally, San Jose, CA, USA

I am not an economist, and I realise that a suffering bank does damage to the economy as a whole. But if a bank runs aground by greedily trading in unstable debts which its competitors won't touch, then surely it needs to suffer the consequences of taking that risk? Otherwise any bank large enough to realise it's too integral to the economy not to be rescued by the Bank of England is going to capitalise on that realisation.

Andy, Oxted,

This is the result of tons of legislation over the past 10 years, much of it ill-considered and inconsistent, tying the hands of the Bank of Englsnd, and making Mr Brown's baby, the FSA, responsible. Now at crunch time, the new rules are tested- and prove unfit for purpose- so Mr Brown launches his attack dogs at Mr King as scapegoat. Better get used to this- that's Macavity's well known style- he always hides away when the going gets tough.

Doug, Glasgow,

I totally agree with Mrs C. The FED and the ECB lead by example and very early on in the process took accepted high grade securitized assets (of which Northern Rock has plenty) as collateral. BOE hesitated, mumbling citing grounds of moral hazard and bla bla. Swift intelligent action is what was required - but the Mr King failed and waited more than a one week for legal advise (!) Not good enough, I agree, he has to go.

Martin Rasmussen, Copenhagen, Denmark

Camilla, Like an earlier poster remarked, you may well feel a twit in a few weeks if you re-read your article. I am quite comfortable with banks going bust if they make the wrong decisions. I am deeply uncomfortable with tax payers money being spent to bail out the bankers. The governor's letter last week, about the dangers of Moral Hazard were spot on. The only thing to be concerned about, that he changed his policy on this matter after daft people such as Camilla finally got through to him. While I'm glad that Northern Rock savers will not lose their money, I'm not that bothered that they and the rest of us have had a bloody great shock to our systems. The expansion of credit and derivatives have got completely out of hand, and the only way they were likely to be reined in was by a little bit of moral hazard for us all. The Governor has gently taught us all a valuable lesson. Don't borrow what you can't afford to pay back when times turn bad.

Neil, Manchester, UK

Was it really wise of America to pump yet more cash into the system, and for us to eventually follow suit? There's another word for "injecting liquidity" and that is to "flood". There is a torrent of worthless cash based on nothing that will eventually cause a tsunami of inflation, first there and then here. Nobody has been very wise.

Jo, Cambridgeshire, uk

Nonsense. King was unable to do a bailout, or arrange a rescue, on the quiet, due to new legislation, some of it Brown's (the Market Abuse directive). Plus the responsibility for individual bank monitoring is up to the FSA, (a Brown creation) not the Bank. The Bank of England is a part of the old Establishment thus hated by Labour. It is convenient to pin the blame on King. The intellectually lazy and finacially ignorant press all have eerily similar stories that smack of Labour spin. Don't be fooled; examine the facts. The FSA were asleep at the wheel and Alistair Darling is a joke as a Chancellor. A scapegoat had to be found!

TruthSeeker, London,

Bang on assessment, this report has most eloquently expressed my own view of this situation. Unfortunately the people who will appoint any successors will be even less savvy than the likable clowns who have allowed this disaster to occur.

Martin Crowther, Manchester, England

Am I the only one who finds it a little ironic that Northern Rock savers' money is now effectively safer than anyone else's?

All this interventionism, both sides of the Atlantic, is also playing havoc with the short-term stock market position (FTSE100 was up 212 (no, not 21.2, 212!) at one point on Wednesday, right in the middle of all this) which is now artifically high. So we'll have week's more "Stock Market in Freefall" stories if I'm not mistaken.

Chris, London, UK

Why should the Bank accept the tranches of worthless MBS & CDO's, just to bail out a few greedy / reckless bankers?

Moral hazard or bail out? I know where I want my taxpayers money to go, and it's not to a bitchy bunch of gung ho City boys to whom the words 'risk' and 'consequences' don't seem to have much meaning.

Gary, London,

Weimar Republic-style queues.

Nope we'll just misprice risk, keep rates low and take the hyperinflation.

Well done! Very insightful.

matthew nuttall, Salford,

Total rubbish, Ms C. If it is to survive, the financial system needs to remain as close to a free market as possible. Of course there was a stunned silence to the question 'Who is in charge?' and to the Governor's answer when he tried not to make the questioner look even more like a complete idiot. The same question, when posed by the Soviets about London's bread supply, is used as a classic example of economic naivety.

Rob, Reading,

We live in an age where we pay men in suits huge sums to deny responsibility, whilst "allegedly" protecting our interests. Who was responsible for the Northern Rock debacle, known by those in the industry as an accident waiting to happen, but not by the politicians and the financial regulators? Camilla Cavendish blames the Bank of England, but let us not forget the FSA, found wanting once again, .Add the Treasury, represented by the Chancellor, mouthing words without conviction, and finally Nero himself, fiddling with the teapot, entertaining his ex-nemesis, whilst Northern Rock burned.
One thing is for certain, the words" lessons learned "will be heard, and no major player will be sacked or resign. No one was responsible, The buck conveniently no longer stops here, but as Mervyn King told the Select Committee, but in Brussels. Would it be in any other place?

M. Fishman, London,

Pretty simplistic opinion i would say, presuming that the market is made up of folks that make decisions based on crowd lines on only one financial institution, agreed that confidence is important in an economy, but value more so. The UK economy has not changed drastically and the market is knowledgable of this information. Ms Cavendish might be embarrased reading this article in another 12 weeks. I told friends to buy NR that the market is likely to over-react thanks to Ms Cavendish and friends.

tolu, Lagos,

Never mind the Governor, what about John Gieve - left the Home Office in shambles, unable to produce accounts, now as BoE Director responsible for financial control goes on holiday while we have the first run on a bank for 150 years and the UK banking system is totally discredited?

What does it take for this guy to go?

julia, london,

Camilla is spot on.Mervyn King was more interested in punishing the few unidentified "bad boys" in the class.Given he did not know who these were,he punished all the banks by causing their cost of funds to rise dramatically and liquidity to evaporate.He just can't stop being a teacher!The result is lots of banks will have to charge their customers a lot more on their loans.The knock-on effect that is coming in the next 6-12 months is an enormous economic slowdown,and rise in unemployment.Do you think mortgages are available at the moment?Do you think that loans to companies are being renewed/extended normally?Borrowing costs and conditions are moving very quickly into harsh territory and this will be felt in 6-12 months time in the economy at large.Just when Mr.Brown needs to go to the country-amidst a recession of the making of M.King.
No more academics in these key jobs,please,but people with practical experience,who are not interested in giving anybody a "lesson" .

C.Elder, London, UK

No-one has lost any money. A bank with a risky business model has come unstuck in the public eye, and will no doubt soon be broken up - protecting more members of the public from getting caught up in a bigger mess later on. Other UK banks have been shown that there will be no secret bail outs. If they mess up it'll be curtains for them. And no doubt those that need to will tighten up accordingly. If institutions stop lending to each other so willingly, then good. Aren't we all agreed that too much credit is in danger of harming the economy? Would it really have been better for everything to be swept under the carpet?

Redcliffe, London,

"The highly educated men on yesterdays panel."???

John McFall was a teacher, he is now a failed politician - in a party scrabbling around for ministers he is on the back benches. What experience does he have of actually running a large institution or of being actively involved in monitoring and shaping the city? None.

It is testament to the state of british democracy that such an intellectual heavyweight (ha ha ha) is asking moronic questions in public.

G Jones, london,

Do you really expect the BoE to perform credibly when it comes under huge political pressure from the rank amateurs who have held the post of Chancellor for the last nine years?

M J Clemitson, Victoria, Seychelles

Nonsense. Could have been written by a Downing Street spin doctor. King is being set-up as fall guy and it absolutely stinks.

Jon Cooper, Herts, UK,

That's right. The City always complains about regulation. Now that things got out of hand, there is an attempt to make a regulator - anyone but...- into a scapegoat. That's disgraceful. In the case of Northern Rock, the greedy fools have names. They are Applegarth, Chairman "now you see him, now you don't" Ridley and Director Wanless. Considering that Wanless was Chairman of Audit and Risk Committees, a slight variation on his name would perfectly describe that particular lot. They should be the ones fired without compensation and without their preposterous pensions. Fat chance that that will ever happen.

John, London, UK

The FSA, not the Bank, is responsible for the supervision of the banks. If anyone should go, it should be the head of the FSA, Sir Callum McCarthy, New Labour favourite.

PJ, London,

I, and I suspect legions of savers, would beg to differ.

The attitude of the 'Old Lady' may not have been very market 'savvy' as you put it, but market 'savvy' in financial services is a phrase most sensible investors, be they private or commercial, should run a mile at. The 'market' has proven itself to be anything but 'savvy', as the Northern Rock episode surely proves beyond doubt.

Whether it throws money at the market or not, the Bank cannot make it run smoothly, and much of the ludicrous huffing and puffing from the Square Mile is the familiar sound of egos with egg on their faces. Yesterday's Select Committee could not possibly be advanced as anything other than small men trying to have their day in the sun.

It is far, far too early to assume that the Fed's policy is the right one and the Bank of England's the wrong one. So keep your market-savvy where it belongs.

MorrisOx, Nottingham,

No! You seem to think that it would have been better if the Northern Rock problems had not come to light. How else could the dangerous credit bubble be pricked? Certainly the whole tripartite system needs reviewing, but it is not King's fault, and sacking him will simply send the message that we don't want an independent Central Bank - which is far more damaging than a few queues.

NBeale, London, England

Rubbish. The comparison with Coutrywide is specious. Countrywide did not have hundreds of thousands of depositors. The B of E did not fail. Depositors wanted to take their money out because they did not trust the first and second of the three attempts by the Chancellor to reassure them. When a government tells as many lies as this one it is hardly surprising that they chose to queue.

Tony G, Harrogate,

Ms Cavendish states "The Bank of England’s job is to provide funds to ensure that the economy and the financial system run smoothly. " This is not the case.

The BoE's job is to ensure the financial system runs smoothly. It is not, and MUST NEVER BE, to provide funds. As unpalatable as it may be, financially reckless BANKS have to take responsibility for their actions and this means going bust.

The Treasury's act of bailing out Northern Crock has given the green light for BANKERS to be as irresponsible and as reckless as they wish. In a globalised world, the world has seen Northern Crock be, in effect, nationalised. The rest of the world will loose confidence in the UK. They will withdraw their holdings of sterling to a safer place. The next run will be on the Pound Sterling itself! I suspect even a pro-Labour paper like the Times will have a difficult job putting a positive spin on that.

Currency debacle anyone?

NickT, Aldershot, Hants,

Sir John GIeve, former Treasury Civil Servant and Permanent Secretary at the Home Office whose wife was lawyer for David Blunkett......what job has he performed adequately ?

Let us have a Bank as independent as the Fed or the ECB.....and create an SEC. What we have is the pathetic FSA which covered itself in glory over Equitable Life and a Treasury staffed by psychopaths.

I doubt the US Treasury could raid pension funds or control appointments to the Federal Reserve

CCTV, Harrogate, England

I cannot disagree with you more. The Bank of England has acted when it had to (as a lender of last resort) without artificially propping up an unviable institution. Northern Rock's business plan was only sustainable during the credit boom, and its contingency plans were inadequate. It is illiquid and must now be allowed to fail.

A political decision was made to effectively provide a government guarantee for all bank deposits. I do not disagree with this, as it seems unfair for depositors to suffer. However, it is not the role of the central bank to prop up failing institutions.

The UK is one of the most indebted societies in the world. Mervyn King has been warning on this issue for over a year.

This credit boom will have to unwind sooner or later. This is an unavoidable fact. Temporarily plastering over the problem and blaming an independent central banker suggests an inappropriate degree of political interference and casts doubt over the government's macroeconomic credentials.

Rob W, London,

This is a typically irresponsible comment on the financial markets, betraying the usual complete misunderstanding of how they work. Nobody is in charge - the markets are like an ecosystem, interdependent and with no one piece controlling all the others - that is the nature of the market. Any control attempted by governement has to be limited to the absolutely essential necessary to allow the system to run. The stunned silence I hope was caused by the inanity of the question by Mr Fallon. If you want someone in charge, a Mr Mourinho is free - he would certainly give that sense of ego and control that Camilla feels is so important.

Jonathan , Singapore, Singapore

On one hand Mr Kaletsky is claiming a major success by the financial institutions in this instance, but Ms Cavendish claims multiple failures ........ How about a Times Columinists live debate? With the financial editor as chairman. Does the newspaper have a point of view?

Mark Newman, Singapore,

The UK went the wrong way when they transfer supervisory control to FSA. This weakened the Central Bank to "police" better the industry

AE, Port LoUIS, Mauritius

The point of a free market is that nobody in "in charge" sitting behind the scenes and pulling the strings. Companies that make bad decisions should go bankrupt or be bought out by other companies.

Regulators should prevent law-breaking and dishonesty, not stop risk-taking. But those who take the risks, including investors, must also take the consequences.

I don't recall the press calling for a bail-out of Barings or a rescue for Lloyds names. Why should Northern Rock be different?

Central banks that subsidize risk help privatize profit and socialize loss. That creates speculation, asset bubbles, inequality, and financial corruption.

A recession, long overdue, would be healthier than continuing to spin out a fictional economy based on derivatives, unaffordable houses, and the belief that values can only ever increase.

Austin, Chicago, USA

Ummm, Camilla - the man and the woman on the street have no doubt that Mervyn King has been stitched up by Clunking Fist. Yes, he'll go, and yes, he'll be replaced by a NuLab Party placeman.

Totalitarianism, here we come.

Report in the Independent yesterday that most of the motions put forward for the NuLab conference have been ruled out of order. We are on the way to a one party state - a limp opposition slowly being co-opted into govt when of use - and no dissent brooked.

No why don't you write about that, rather than New Labour saving it's favourite bank.

Jermy Poynton, Fromeville, 51st State

Camilla Cavendish says "There has been a catalogue of institutional failure. The Bank of England’s job is to provide funds to ensure that the economy and the financial system run smoothly." This is surely not the view of Mervyn King. However, everyone must agree now that the Northern Rock crisis illustrates the need to join the authority for bank supervision with the function of central banking.

A Doty, London,

"That is disingenuous. Northern Rock was illiquid because of the Bank of England’s own refusal to accept mortgages as collateral for a loan."

Oh, come on, I am personally totally upset that people above Mervyn have told him that he must accept mortgages as collateral, many of which are sub-prime and Merve knows that the value of these "assets" are secured on property prices that are about to plummet, he knows full well that they aren't worth the paper they are written on. So, MY tax money has been spent on propping up poor investments, MY TAX MONEY is about to dissapear in a puff of smoke and a house price crash! I pull my hair out!!

Philip, Lambeth, London

"more market savvy" - I don't think so. "Market savvy" in the financial services sector has brought us to the brink. "Market savvy" is also virtually synonomous with instiutionalised corruption in many cases.

If the FSA won't regulate effectively, who - other than the Bank of England - does Ms Cavendish suggest will confront the dire problems in the system.

lender of last resort, london,