Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland and Northern Rock will be broken up and parts of their businesses sold off to create three new banks, it emerged last night.

Government sources said ministers were "determined" to see more competition in the market, following the £1.2 trillion bailout of the sector which resulted in the loss of three independent banks and several building societies.

One of Warren Buffett's favourite sayings about the market is: "be greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy".

When the market was fearful last September, Mr Buffett was greedy, putting $5bn (£3bn) into the investment bank Goldman Sachs on exceptionally favourable terms.

He says he was only able to negotiate the deal because not many people had $5bn to hand at that particular moment.

But there is no doubt Mr Buffett's public show of confidence in the company was, in itself, a valuable asset to Goldman.

As I mentioned in "of our empty brains" in the history of invasion, not just Afghanistan, despite the devastating impact from the fighting, the result on the general populace is only a gradual shift, never an immediate change of beliefs nor direct change of allegiances, despite the new pressures, dangers, torture and deaths. Even the Romans, during the Pax Romana, had to fight against insurgencies. Insurgencies and invasions from Huns and other tribes that eventually led to the downfall of Rome, rather than its debauchery...

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For 470 years, since Henry VIII broke with Rome, the Church of England has been walking a careful middle line, halfway between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. This week it has effectively given up the struggle, or, more to the point, been manoeuvred into defeat by the Vatican.

DISTRICT recreational hunters have defended a bill that will give shooters entry into the state’s national parks should the controversial legislation be passed by lawmakers this week.

A Shooters Party bill before the NSW parliament would permit the hunting of native and non-native animals including kangaroos and 28 species of birds like galahs, cockatoos and swans in most of the state’s 780 national parks and reserves.

Mt Trafalgar, Kimberleys. Picture by Gus.

An environmental group says an oil spill in the Timor Sea off the West Australian coast is worse than it feared.

The World Wide Fund for Nature has completed a three day boat trip of the area and says the spill is having a significant impact on marine life.

The West Atlas oil rig operated by PTTEP Australasia has been leaking oil for nine weeks.

A team of engineers will make a fourth attempt to plug the leak today.

Anti-fascist protesters are now gathering outside BBC Television Centre in London ahead of his arrival later today, amid fears of clashes with BNP supporters.

Mr Griffin claimed the BBC was 'institutionally biased' towards him but praised the corporation for allowing him to appear: 'Thank you, Auntie.'

He also said the BNP had enjoyed its 'best ever single day' with telephone donations on Tuesday after he compared Britain's military generals to Nazi war criminals.

The party's website attracted 77,000 unique visitors, second only to the day he was elected to the European Parliament in June. 

'I thank the political class and their allies for being so stupid.

An email is doing the rounds at the moment...

Here is part of it:

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from the Guardian

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Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, has launched a blistering attack on Britain's banks, describing the £1tn government support given to them as "breathtaking".

In an outspoken speech last night, in which he made his clearest call yet for the banks to be broken up, King warned that the British people will be paying for the cost of the financial crisis for a generation.

The winners of a quiz organised by Somali Islamists have been given weapons and ammunition as prizes.

Prizes included AK-47 assault rifles, hand grenades and an anti-tank mine.

The quiz ran during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan in the port city of Kismayo, and included questions about the Koran and Somali geography.

A representative for the al-Shabab militant group said the quiz aimed to stop young men from wasting their time and focus on defending their territory.

Of the Greek rubber chicken...

From the SMH, Anthony Ackroyd
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"Come to the edge, he said. They said: We are afraid. Come to the edge, he said. They came. He pushed them and they flew." These are the words of Guillaume Apollinaire, a French writer well-credentialled as an artist who lived at the edge.
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To put it bluntly, a rubber sword won't cut through the bullshit, and that is one of the most vital functions of comedy.
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keels of contention...

Our heroes who are inspiration to most of our democratic ideals, often are not democratic. Just who cares? They have attributes of folly that succeed in slaying the dragons.... In a democracy, there would have been an endless array of general meetings on why the dragons would have to be protected — or cut to pieces in times of famine...