From the Times:

The Bank of England will begin radical moves to “print money” in as little as two weeks as it embarks on an aggressive new phase of its efforts to stem the economic slump.

In a surprise acceleration of its fight against the recession, it emerged that the Bank has already written to Alistair Darling to seek his permission to begin so-called “quantitative easing”.

The step means that the Bank will begin creating new money to boost the amount of cash and credit flowing through the economy in an attempt to jump-start growth as soon as March 5, when its Monetary Policy Committee next meets to set interest rates.

Don't be fooled by terms such as "quantitative easing", it's just an attempt to make theft sound positive. Whenever the government (or central bank -- these are one and the same) decides to print money, guess who gets to spend it first? The government and the banks. With more money now floating around, each dollar (or pound in this case) is now worth less -- "quantitative easing" acts as a stealth tax on the value of cash holdings. It just creates the illusion of prosperity and is often popular because at first glance it doesn't appear as though the government has taken resources from anywhere. In reality, they have taken resources from everyone and anyone who holds the currency. The only people who benefit are, as mentioned earlier, the first recipients -- banks and government.

Unfortunately printing money to "...boost the commercial banks' reserves held with the Bank, so improving their ability to make new loans to consumers and businesses and, it is hoped, breathe fresh life into the economy" delays the necessary adjustment in the structure of prices towards consumer's true wishes. That is the only way real demand will be restored and this stunt is nothing more than a transfer of wealth.