The same economic mistakes as in the US with the difference that half of the world has it in their best interest to save the $ - in short: remnibi, oil prices, exports, those "triple-A" US government bonds etc. - while nobody gives a hoot about the £. In the last few days the $ got even gained strength compared to the £, even though it bombed against everything else: if the ECB starts buying $ to help the exports of the Eurozone the £ will bear the brunt of the financial crisis.
My strategy to hold £ cash to invest in $ stocks once the recession is over is now proved to be an extremely stupid one. Time to buy gold. Luckily, that about 100% price increase of the gold in $ throughout the last 2 years ( http://goldmoney.com/en/charts/0usd120.png ) is still only a 50-60% increase in £ ( http://goldmoney.com/en/charts/0gbp120.png ) so investing now as gold will surely top at least at $1500 before the troubles are over is still not a bad move.