Matthew's Journal

Personally, I'm not certain the Government was right to intervene. If it hadn't, the Northern Rock would likely have folded already and the shareholders would have even less value left than they currently do.

The Government did intervene, though, and the cited reason was that Northern Rock's mess was threatening to destabilise the entire UK banking industry. If that's true then I think it's reasonable for the UK, its Government and taxpayers to hold it against Northern Rock, its management and its shareholders, who ought to suffer some penalty. While exacting a suitable penalty might entail overriding rights they thought they had, I don't think it's actually unfair.