The deal to rescue Bradford & Bingley is complex but appears to leave taxpayers pretty well protected, putting the burden for its mortgage losses on the banks, which is why bank shares have taken such a battering this morning. Is is a nationalisation? Not as we used to know them, perhaps more like what they call a conservatorship in America, though the Treasury statement, here, talks about public ownership. This is the Stock Exchange announcement.

Meanwhile, plenty of strings have been attached to the $700 billion US banking bailout. Here's the Wall Street Journal's summary of the bill.