So you run down to the safety of the town
What made the panic over Northern Rock (if, as Chris says, it actually was a panic) so infectious was its high visibility. Wall to wall media coverage of people queuing around the block trying to get at their cash passed the virus quickly.
The visibility passed the panic on to the Government and it was this visibility that’s made Alistair Darling move as quickly and as comprehensively as he has, promising that the Government will underwrite all existing deposits with Northern Rock. Equitable Life policy holders and those losing their pensions when final salary schemes collapsed forgot to queue round the block, round the clock, on the box and so were told to go and swing.
It was hard to visualise these people losing their money or the pensions contributions they’ve been putting away for decades. So the Government capitalised on this failure of public imagination. The lesson to learn is that if you’re going to find yourself caught up in any kind of crisis, make sure you’re media savvy. Make yourself as visible as possible for as long as possible. Politicians won’t be shamed into action unless that humiliation is a very public one.
The PR ignorance seems to have been pretty comprehensive in this instance. If only Northern Rock had made their website operation more robust so people could transfer their money online there would have been fewer people queuing and less virulent panic. For want of a nail the kingdom was lost.
And has enough been done? Is the snap election back on? Chancellor Alistair Darling’s media appearances over the weekend were woeful and his assurances only served to fuel Northern Rock customer’s unease. But give him his due, at least he fronted up. Can anybody put their hand on their heart and imagine Gordon Brown - when he was Chancellor - going on the radio on a Sunday lunchtime to appeal for calm. You wouldn’t have bet your pension on it. Some understrapper would have got the gig.
But the new spin is in - Northern Rock customers, justifiably spooked, having the audacity to want their money, are now being painted as greedy, grasping and naive. Poor little put upon Northern Rock and Alistair Darling are merely the victims of circumstance, mugged an ungrateful public.
Posted on September 18th, 2007 at 9:57 am
| See also • Between Northern Rock and a hard place • Binge drinking: bottling it again • The long and the short of it |
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Filed under ...In a brewery, New Labour |
I would down to the bank in a shot to withdraw my money in this situation (actually I’d use the internet instead, but the principle is the same!).
I have so much sympathy for NR customers, who are being told to remain calm as their bank sinks into oblivion and needs the most incredible rescue attempt seen in over 20 years of politics.
The “ungrateful” NR depositors must be suffering from false consciousness.
How else can explain their voting with their feet and their money against their own class and monetary interests?
Can I interest anyone with a copy of “Capitalist Bastard”?
Capitalism doesn’t work.
whichever way you look at it, the prole gets screwed.
Shhh! The right-wing libertarians will hear you.
The thing that makes me laugh is various Tories try to blame Brown for this latest problem (funny Tories complaining about the lack of government intervention in the market) but when he says he’ll safe guard the deposits the Tories complain he’s only doing it to save votes.
Talk about having your cake [hole] and eating it!
I think the other contributing factor is that the vast amount of those waiting to get their money out were older, so more likely to vote as well as having more to lose if the bank does default, and also obviously middle class, producing a double whammy which forced Labour to act.