Those that were asking for a decisive intervention to halt a financial pandemic certainly got it yesterday, writes Will Hutton. It was almost too big for shell-shocked markets to assimilate. Their reaction, in part driven by the mounting sense that this crisis is now international and out of control, was profoundly disappointing. Yet Britain has produced a well thought-through, bold and comprehensive plan to put its financial system on a sounder footing - well ahead of any other government. Messrs Brown and Darling for once deserve some congratulation. There is every chance they will find themselves lionised at the IMF meetings in Washington this week as the one government that has finally risen to the occasion. Big money is on the table. Will Hutton The Guardian
Full article: Brown and Darling have bitten the bullet - and set the world an example
The Business Pages

Watching Prime Minister's Question Time yesterday was a strange experience, says Steve Richards. Exactly a year ago, Mr Brown was white as a sheet answering questions ineptly on his non-election fiasco. David Cameron taunted him with an insightful wit. The exchanges symbolised a transformed political situation. Yesterday it had changed again. Mr Brown was in command, taking a tour around the details of the package daring even to hope that it will be followed by other countries. In a bigger crisis than cocking-up the timing of an election he looked prime ministerial instead of the frightened figure of a year ago, unable to disguise his horror at being caught playing dirty counter-productive political games. Steve Richards The Independent
Full article: Darling took his time – but he has ushered a new age
America faces new sub-prime crisis
The Mole: Could Brown sack Darling and bring in Vince Cable?

Who in the eurozone can do what Alistair Darling has just done in extremis to save Britain's banks, as this $10 trillion house of cards falls down? Each country must save its own skin, yet none has full control of the policy instruments. Germany has vetoed French and Italian ideas for an EU lifeboat fund. The former knows exactly where that leads. It is a Trojan horse that will be used one day to co-opt German taxpayers into rescues for less Teutonic EMU kin. One can sympathise with Berlin. But sharing debts with Italy and Spain was implicit when they agreed to launch the euro. This is a very dangerous set of circumstances for monetary union. Will we still have a 15-member euro by Christmas? Ambrose Evans-Pritchard Daily Telegraph
Full article: Financial Crisis: Who is going to bail out the euro?
Euro busybodies see credit crunch opportunity

During the Thirties depression in America, both popular and serious culture were transformed, writes Stephen Glover. Violent films gave way to more uplifting, romantic ones, many of them musicals with stars such as Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire. Audiences struggling to make ends meet were inspired by stories of optimism. At the same time, the Thirties encouraged serious writers such as John Steinbeck and Theodore Dreiser to write about the dangers of materialism and the excesses of capitalism. Perhaps our own cinema will become less nihilistic and violent, while we may produce serious novelists who, rather than gazing at their own navels, tackle great social issues. Stephen Glover Daily Mail
Full article: Ten reasons why we can look on the bright side

How much does confidence cost? $700bn? £500bn? Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling deployed the word like a mantra yesterday, says Ben Macintyre. They looked confident enough, but will the public buy it? Confidence is the soul and fuel of finance. The financial stampede that Britain has experienced in the past few weeks may be the most profound display of group feeling since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Once baseless fear takes hold, of course, it becomes rational to follow suit: even if one knows that there is no need to panic, the mere fact that others are doing so has effects that require the most level-headed to join in. Ben Macintyre The Times
Full article: Be confident, two and two still make four