Well, the recession claims another victim – no longer can we say that something is only “the cost of a postage stamp”  when we mean to say that it is a trifling sum. It is going to affect the business model of many people and it is a major announcement with hidden consequences, not for the people who delight in licking  lick their stamp and affixing it to a handwritten envelope when there is a birthday.  No my friends, it is going to hit people trading online and the users (not to mention suppliers) of mailing lists. Businesses sending out monthly statements will feel the hit. We tried by email and it was a toal disaster. For some reason if you want paid it has to go by post otherwise you can whistle. Bizarre, but such is life in spite of the ubiquity of technology.

I am pretty sure there are one or two people out there who may pay for an audience with David Miliband especially if they have given generously to the cause. That’s the way of the world – those who give with an open hand get to meet the big cheese, in this case David Cameron. Now , if perish the thought, David Miliband ever scraped into number 10 and we didn’t all  leave the country en masse, would there be a hullabaloo over undue infleunce due to donations prior to taking up residence at number 10? Do benefactors who get private audiences with VIPs seriously thinks these people remember them a week later? Of course not, you are simply another person they have to meet as part of their duties. In this case they were old friends of David Cameron so the money was probably irrelevant. If, in any event , large donations have to be declared what difference does dinner make? As the title says – I wasn’t invited, I am not looking for an invite nor am I envious of those who went.

The reply of the opposition to the budget is pure farce. Which leader of the opposition is going to pat the chancellor on the back? In this case Osborne boxed clever and Miliband had to take the role of the pathetic little child, albeit with a nice little jibe. But then again, the ya-boo-hiss scenes the House of Commons is all part of our politics is it not? Trouble is that the public are fed up of it and probably need something different.

The new Abarth500c is well and truly run in. Problem is that I am keenly watching the instant mpg gauge, if only because the fuel tank is small. My real world experience is somewhat below that of the manufacturer in a mix of driving conditions. Has anybody managed to get anywhere near the official figures? Mind you, when working out business/private fuel use for a reclaim I am sure HMRC will stick to the figures from the manufacturer in the event of a dispute, which in this case are out by a very large margin.

As with most government announcements the devil is in the detail but I will be surprised if many SMEs benefit in a tangible way. I think the main winners will be the banks – it’s the way things are. If you want to get the economy moving how about a return to traditional banking where there was a branch manager who could make decisions based on local knowledge and a personal relationship. Today’s box ticking got us into a mess and it is not going to get us out in a hurry. Even the so-called “relationship managers” are a total and utter joke. My manager is so overstretched it takes 2 or 3 days to get through to him and when push comes to shove he is beholden to head office or “credit” for decisions. I don’t think anybody who is not creditworthy yesterday will be embraced today via some sudden metamorphisis.

The wife sent me out shopping the other day so I dutifully obliged. I stepped into the new local Sainsburys and apart from being gobsmacked by its sheer size I was pleasantly surprised by the freshness of the layout (it is brand spanking new after all ) and the space to shop in. I hopped into the car and whizzed 5 minutes round the M60 and completed the shop in Tesco.

I struck me how cramped and cheap marketplace-like Tesco felt in comparison to Sainsburys. It felt like “pile it high snd sell it cheap” was becoming “pile it all over and leave less space to move”. Also seems to be less staff on the floor to help.

Has the baby been thrown out with the bathwater in the relentless drive to shave costs?

Now this is just one site of each, but if it is indeed a microcosm of the state of play I know where my money would be.