By David Lawrenson

The credit crunch continues to unfold and move on apace.

The Bank of England threw a lifeline to Northern Rock and has in effect underwritten those deposits.

Meanwhile, much money has been made and lost in the city on trading in the shares of NR as well as Alliance & Leicester, Bradford and Bingley and Paragon - which have all seen huge gyrations in their share prices.

While the political fallout continues, my view is that the authorities have acted at just the right time - scaring the life out of lenders (and in effect sadly consigning our friends in the North East to almost certain takeover), but just doing enough and in just enough time to save the banking system from possible collapse.