The scenes were jarring, incongruous, throwbacks to Depression-era America: panicky customers converging on bank branches across the country, desperate to withdraw their money before it was too late.
The crisis was resolved when the government stepped in and saved the day (and the bank, Northern Rock). But even soothing words from above have done little to dispel a nervous feeling in the air here, a worry that Britain’s buoyant borrow-and-spend era may be coming to an end, and that there are accounts still to be settled.
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