From Mr Patrick Blackburn.

Sir, At the time the credit crunch became prevalent I could never understand why Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds shareholders were given preferential treatment over Northern Rock shareholders, and this week I am still baffled. Your editorial “Smoke and mirrors for UK banking” and Lex (November 4) agreed that in the event of a further deterioration in these banks’ balance sheets (whether the assets were in the Asset Protection Scheme or not) the government would bail them out even if it meant full nationalisation.