Toxic to radioactive!(Stockwatch)

So 2008 neither came in quietly nor left quietly. As it came in we were all familiarising ourselves with new terms like 'sub-prime' and 'toxic debt' and as it went out we were bracing ourselves for a new list of large-scale corporate crashes and yet more revelations about banking ineptitude and dishonesty, following Madoff's $48 billion theft. We didn't have to wait long.

We cannot claim we invented the headline! This is the terminology now being used to describe assets that are so bad that the description toxic is no longer sufficient. There is no better example than the demise of the Royal Bank of Scotland, which has just revealed the largest loss - [pounds sterling]28 billion -in British corporate history. Two years ago it was worth [pounds sterling]75 billion, and even though it has received [pounds sterling]32 billion of taxpayer's money, is now worth only [pounds sterling]4.5 billion] As we go to press …