Watching the Budget can hardly be called fun at the best of times but when the economic statistics are this bad, it made horrifying viewing yesterday writes Andrew Tjaardstra, editor of Professional Broking.

It has been a strange week as I have had jury service but without 'the sitting in court deliberating bit' as many of the defendants took 'court fright' and pleaded guilty at the last minute writes Andrew Tjaardstra, editor, Professional Broking.

I enjoy a number of jobs within the financial services industry but I do not think of myself as an insurance man. If an economic downturn has done any good at all, it is to get people running insurance businesses to change their thought process from working in insurance to working on their business, writes Tim Ryan, managing director of broker Ryan Insurance.