The April 2009 budget announcement was never going to set the world to rights.

In the midst of a depression, the Chancellor has his work cut out for him. Record levels of borrowing, the pound the weakest many of us can remember, unemployment rising, the Conservatives ready to step into Government – there is frankly not much for him to be positive about.

The budget was a tangle of staggering figures – it really is difficult to get to grips with the level of debt we are in, and I feel this in some ways detracted from the good that is being done – as long as you’re not an entrepreneur!

The 50 per cent tax levy on people earning over £150,000 a year could potentially stifle innovation and goes against the promises that New Labour made when it first came to power. Any good accountant is simply going to be advising clients on how to avoid paying this amount, and the whole scheme just seems likely to put a stop to traditional ‘big’ dreams of business.

However, the doubling of the Capital Allowance to 40 per cent will enable businesses to make investments which can only be a good thing. Although how many businesses are at a point where they can actually look to do this is another matter!

One of my personal favourites was the investment into a communications revolution. Believe it or not there are still parts of the North West which do not have access to high speed broadband or wireless connections, fast becoming a mainstay of modern business. This is a recognition that the Government sees the ‘wired world’ as the future of business.

As the chairman of an organisation which regularly uses its website, blogs and email newsletters to do business, I am delighted that businesses could soon be on an equal footing in this respect.
Of course, the announcements on education and training were good news – support to protect half a million jobs, training for under-25s who have been out of work for a year, £250 million to help people get work experience in growth industries…

Finally, the £500 million to kick-start building projects and new homes, although welcome, is not as effective for the property industry as abolishing the empty property tax would have been.
It is very easy to get lost in the figures of the billions the Government is borrowing to keep the country afloat, rather than focus on what is being done. Whether it is enough, time will tell.

A series of results over the past fortnight means that the race for the Premiership has become a three-horse race, rather than the one-horse stroll it had threatened to become at the end of February. This means that only sixteen of the twenty clubs in the league now have nothing to play for – other than a place in a discredited UEFA Cup (to be re-branded the Europa League next season) or survival. There is, of course, a fourth Champions League spot available. That will go to Arsenal.

Can the Premiership maintain its mass interest in the long- term with such an outcome almost inevitable season after season?

Football’s governing body doesn’t seem to think so. The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) is considering a proposal that would see the richest clubs pay a luxury tax on their star players that would then be re-distributed to smaller clubs.

The tax idea is driven by concerns that leagues right across Europe are being dominated by an elite group of clubs, and that this monopoly will soon lead to monotony among supporters.
It is not only in England where pundits can all too easily predict who the ultimate Champions will be.

Olympique Lyonnais has won the French Ligue 1 for the past seven seasons and Porto has won Portugal’s Liga for six of the past seven years.

UEFA officials went on a fact- finding trip to the US recently to discuss the luxury tax idea with officials from Major League Baseball. They also examined rules widely used in US football, basketball and baseball that limit squad sizes.

I for one wish UEFA luck in their efforts to introduce a more even playing field, and those interested in the long term future of the beautiful game should join me.

Indeed I have a suggestion of my own. The team that secures the most points per pound spent in the transfer market should win the league. In England, for four of the past six seasons, that would be Everton!