Teaching activity
Financial crisis 2008 - what happened to Northern Rock?
24th September 2017
I would like to share an excellent edition of the Radio 4 programme, The Reunion, which is available on iPlayer. It is a 45-minute discussion between some of the key characters involved in the collapse of Northern Rock in 2007, it's 'rescue' by the government, the changes to government intervention in and control of financial markets that resulted, and the sale to Virgin Money. The programme brings together:
- Robert Peston, who was the BBC's Business Editor who broke the story of the Rock's troubles and was accused of causing the run on the Bank.
- Dennis Grainger, a former Northern Rock employee who had built up shares worth more than £100,000 through the company's save-as-you-earn scheme. He has fought a long legal battle for compensation after nationalisation rendered the shares worthless. - Alastair Balls, Chair of the Northern Rock Foundation, which distributed more than £230million in grants.
- Jayne-Anne Gadhia, the Chief Executive of Virgin Money which bought Northern Rock from the UK Government in 2012.
It covers a huge range of the topics that students need to cover for the current specifications, and is a really worth-while programme to listen to and discuss.
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Study Notes
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