SOMETHING about the mortgage crisis does not add up. While mortgage arrears are out of hand, repossessions are minute.

Indeed, last June some 83,250 mortgages were in arrears. At the same time, there were only 961 repossessions.

Quite a puzzle.

The low level of evictions must be thanks to those pussycats in the banks, the souls of human kindness.

The stand-off between borrower and lender is bizarre. No one is moving. The bankers seem paralysed while the homeowners are beginning to realise that there is safety in numbers. Not paying a mortgage is becoming normal, rather than rare.

Is there a quasi-mortgage strike developing? Even more intriguingly, is it being indulged by the Government?