5 In February 2007, seven months before the Northern Rock troubles, Sir Callum McCarthy said:

First, there is the problem that, while a non-zero failure policy is accepted, and even applauded, ex ante, after the event of a failure there is a general tendency to act as if failure of a financial institution should be equated with failure of the regulatory regime.

In the light of Northern Rock:

(a) Do you think that politicians and members of the public do accept a ‘non-zero failure policy’ for financial institutions?