If not an outright attack, then just getting the competition out of the way to make mining more profitable?

Today, the total computation speed of the network moved from a low of 3000 GH/s to a high of 5000 GH/s, while the percentage of non-pool mining increased dramatically, involving deepbit and slush both going down.

Clearly something doesn't add up. Why does the computation speed go up when large pools are out of action?

There are also claims on the forum that two large FPGA clusters were brought online today. And other claims that the pools going down were due to DDOS attacks.

Draw your own conclusions.

Thanks. Yes, it does seem a good idea to steer clear of LR.

Trading directly with other bitcoiners on IRC is an option, but I suppose I was hoping for something that looked established and trustworthy, rather than trading with an anonymous individual.

I'm looking to buy bitcoins using GBP. So part of my question is: is there an exchange that accepts GBP?

All of the exchanges I have seen seem to rely either on trust or on Liberty Reserve. I hadn't heard about LR until today, and a bit of googling appears inconclusive as to whether it is a scam or not. So the other part of my question is: which exchanges are trustworthy, and is Liberty Reserve a safe conduit for buying bitcoins?

So, as someone looking to take some GBP and buy some bitcoins, can you give any advice on a exchanges that are not scams, particularly if they will accept GBP directly?

Thanks! :-)