Like in the US, the British have become additcted to borrowing. Today the utspoken and controversial leader of the Anglican church decried the creation of a debt culture that encourages people to spend what they don't have even in times of prosperity.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, echoing growing unease over debt-ridden Britain, said on Friday the poor are being crippled by personal debt and called for greater scrutiny of "doorstep" loan companies.

The spiritual leader of the world's 77 million Anglicans, launching into a moral debate about the victims of the credit crunch, attacked excessive interest rates charged to the most vulnerable.

"We need to look at what it means for a whole economy to be built up on spiralling, more or less uncontrolled credit," Williams told BBC Radio.

The British have amassed nearly 1.5 trillion pounds of debt, putting them among the world's biggest borrowers.

Source: uk.reuters.com