Papers talk of banking 'history'

After weeks of headlines declaring the end of the world as we know it, it seems we may finally have reached a make or break moment.

On its front page the Daily Telegraph declares today the "most important in the history of British banking".

Readers are told that 13 October will go down as the day "the capitalist system in Britain admitted defeat".

The Guardian says it is the "the witching hour" and at the IMF meeting, the scent of fear was in the air.

Cardiac arrest

The Financial Times believes the banking system of the western world is suffering a cardiac arrest.

When the patient is so ill, the paper says, it's no good discussing reasons why - what is needed is to get the heart moving again.

One economist says in the Daily Mirror that we could eventually witness the total breakdown of society.

The lights would go out, security would break down and robbery and violence would take hold, he suggests cheerily.

Silver lining

But as people lose money, there's always someone out there who spots a potential profit.

That someone appears to the billionaire retailer, Sir Philip Green.

The Guardian and the Sun describe how he flew to Iceland hoping to snap up some of the high street stores owned by the stricken Icelandic group, Baugur.

If you're on the way home, he tells the Guardian phlegmatically, and you spot a house with a "half price" sign, you're going to knock on the door.

Gordon's revival

The prime minister's star seems to have shone a little brighter over the last few days.

The Daily Telegraph says the French greeted him at the weekend as "a man back from the dead" and a major player looking for global solutions.

The Guardian says Gordon Brown's reception was notable because for a decade he has been lecturing Europe on the need for economic liberalisation.

The Independent describes it as a "remarkable turnaround for Mr Brown".