UK NS&I pulls the amazing rates

This post, back in October, discussed how a branch of the UK government was offering a fully guaranteed 1year rate of 3.95% to savers and  investors  (up to 1 M£ per head).
We wondered what it might mean: at the same time the UK treasury rates for 1y were way lower than 1%.


The amazing offer has now been pulled:
"the 1–year and 2–year Issues of our Guaranteed Growth Bonds and Guaranteed Income Bonds were withdrawn from sale at close of business on 18 November 2009"


as the size offered has been snapped up. Alas we have been unable to find what that size was, and why those amazing rates were offered at all. No point in repeating our speculations from the aforementioned post.