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Notes -
If my friend acts as a lender of last resort every time I am in danger of getting margin called, that is a valuable service, worth money, even though no money needs to be transferred from his account to mine.
Illiquidity is a red herring, a euphemism for the fact that the yield of those gilts is lower than it should be, propped up by overleverage. Bond yields are rising everywhere. Which is a problem, since they've successfully "hedged" themselves against falling interest rates by making themselves vulnerable to rising interest rates through leverage. Now they're getting margin called, and the state has bought bonds above market rate to keep the charade going, rather than liquidate their positions to let the market find the true, higher, yield.
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