Yesterday the Prime Minister scared the nation, this time on purpose. He reminded us that, in just over six months in 2008, the equivalent of nearly four years of economic growth vanished. Global trade fell by 40 per cent. In the 18 months after the credit crunch, stock markets halved in value. Mr Brown's Government was forced to act in a manner out of the wildest dreams of Michael Foot - nationalising a building society and using £50 billion of public money to buy majority control of two of the world's largest banks (see page 11).

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