The Irish solution is not the answer to this crisis

IT simply will not wash. The Irish government's blanket 420bn guarantee of all deposits and a large slice of debt in its six main domestic banks and building societies for the next two years is being portrayed, in some quarters, as proof that small, independent European nations can act decisively to protect their banks from the ravages of even the fiercest of global financial gales. Alex Salmond and the SNP's Treasury spokesman at Westminister, Stewart Hosie, long-time admirers of the Celtic Tiger across the Irish Sea, have publicly urged London to follow Dublin's lead.