I'm sure you're not aware but quoting Matt Ridley is deeply ironic given he was chairman of a UK Bank with an innovative business model. Quoting Wikipedia: "Un

I'm sure you're not aware but quoting Matt Ridley is deeply ironic given he was chairman of a UK Bank with an innovative business model. Quoting Wikipedia: "Under non-executive chairman Matt Ridley and Chief Executive Adam Applegarth, Northern Rock had a business plan which involved borrowing heavily in the UK and international money markets, extending mortgages to customers based on this funding, and then re-selling these mortgages on international capital markets, in a process known as securitisation. On 14 September 2007, the bank sought and received a liquidity support facility from the Bank of England, to replace funds it was unable to raise from the money market. Reporting of this complex scenario led to panic among individual depositors, who feared that their savings might not be available should Northern Rock go into receivership. The result was a bank run – the UK's first in 150 years – where depositors lined up outside the bank to withdraw all of their savings as quickly as possible, particularly since many others were doing the same."