I suppose the biggest event of the week, even speaking as an accountant and tax adviser, has to be the postponement of the Cheltenham race festival. The budget passed by with hardly a whimper, much as I suggested in my earlier posting.
Apart from the fact that it was so benign and lacking in anything controversial, you have to say that anyone with a name of “Darling” starts off at a great disadvantage.
It reminds me of that great character played by Stephen Fry in the Blackadder series focusing on the First World War. As the senior officer Darling, much fun is had by writers Richard Curtis and Ben Elton with the name. The fact of the matter is, the character played by Stephen Fry is a buffoon, yet in a senior position. He is responsible for both making, and implementing, decisions that have an impact on thousands of people. Alastair Darling had a glittering early parliamentary career and was destined for greatness or so it was written. He certainly is no buffoon, but is obviously finding it hard to make his mark as Chancellor of the Exchequer particularly having to follow in the shoes of Gordon Brown. Whatever people think about our premier, and this is supposed to be a non-political posting, I believe he was a great Chancellor who helped steer our economy into a very healthy state despite certain blips relating to budget deficits etc. Nevertheless, a low inflation, low unemployment and relatively low interest rate environment benefits all of us particularly small business.
Many people take the present for granted, but I can remember times when inflation was seriously “double digit” and the effect on business was disastrous. Apart from the fact that one was having to increase prices all the time to keep up, inflation just creates a whole atmosphere of instability and uncertainty that makes decision making treacherous.
Despite world economic turbulence, increasing gold and oil prices, and some doubts about the next year’s economic conditions, I believe that we will still have relatively low interest rates and low levels of inflation. It is also quite possible that the small business, or the micro-business as I sometimes call them, will be relatively unaffected by some of these economic difficulties. Sure, difficult times mean difficult challenges, but small businesses are leaner and meaner, can react quicker and just be more flexible. People don’t’stop buying in a recession, (even if we are going to have one). Sure, they may buy less, but other than specific sectors of the economy, (perhaps retail), I believe that many businesses can remain unaffected and even prosper. The key, as with everything the small business sector does, is to continually try and do the best you can and don’t give up. We are coming across great businesses every day led by motivated and inspirational people who I strongly believe will prosper.
So my final words, it doesn’t matter what happens in the world, or whatever you choose to do my “Darling”, just focus on doing your own thingas well as you can.