I don't know much about financial institutions in Britain, but I found it encouraging that they still apparently have building societies.

In South Africa all the major building societies demutualised about 20 years ago, suckering their members with stories of "windfalls", which they have since lost many times over in the bank charges levied by the commercial banks that replaced the building societies.

Am I right in surmising that Northern Rock, which recently had a big bail out at the expense of the taxpayers, was also one of these demutualised ex-building societies?

And what are these Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac that have had similar bail-outs in the US? The first sounds like an escort agency rather than a financial institution. I realise that "image" is deceptive, but who in their right mind would lend to or borrow from an institution with a name like that?