I wasn’t going to write about the Budget today. I really wasn’t. For one thing, I figure that you’re probably sick to the back teeth of it, after hearing about it non-stop all week. For another, I made a rule when I started doing this: to steer well clear of politics, religion, sex and anything to do with men's sport – on the grounds that they’re more trouble than they’re worth. So I didn’t really want to go there now. But when I sat down to write this, my desire to rant about that charade on Wednesday was so strong that I decided that maybe this rule of mine was actually more of a guideline (I do that a lot).

I don’t know about you, but the whole thing just made me so angry. Now I’m not a political animal, by any means (in fact I’m a bit suspicious of people who are). But can you imagine the CEO of a company announcing a set of numbers as spectacularly awful as that, and then asking his shareholders to give him another four-year contract? Can you imagine an FD standing up and announcing that the company’s up to its eyeballs in debt, and not offering any kind of guidance as to how he plans to pay it back? I don’t blame the poor bloke per se (he’s just been stitched up by his boss), but still - the sheer barefaced gall of it just beggars belief.

Stupidly, since this was supposed to be a ‘Budget for Jobs’, I’d allowed myself to be fooled into thinking that there might be a few measures in there that would make it easier for people like me to employ other people. Because presumably that’s a bit of a prerequisite on the job creation front, right? Beforehand, people were talking excitedly about possible cuts in business rates and corporation tax – which would be worth having, even if it was only temporary.

More than anything, I was hoping that they’d scrap (or at least postpone) this ridiculous hike of hiking employers NI at a time when they’re trying to support the job market. This is going to cost me serious money, and I promise you, it will definitely put people off hiring. How is hiking employers’ tax going to help businesses recover? For that matter, how is hiking fuel costs going to help? Or statutory redundancy pay? I realise that they’ve got to find a few hundred billion from somewhere. But this just seems idiotically short-sighted.

Then there’s this income tax thing. Now I don’t pay myself anything like that much (chance’d be a fine thing). But one day, all being well, I hope to. And when that day comes, not only will I be providing jobs for lots of people, and boosting the Treasury’s tax coffers with my NICs, corporation tax, fuel duty and so on ad infinitum, I’ll now also have to hand over more than half of my personal take-home pay to the Government, presumably so they can go and spend it on setting up a pointless quango that’ll be dissolved by the next lot. How’s that for gratitude?

And perhaps the most depressing thing of all is that even if Brown and co finally do the decent thing – or (more likely) if the electorate does it for them – I’m not really convinced the other lot will be any better. Looking at the Shadow Cabinet on Wednesday, half of them have never had a proper job in their lives, let alone run a decent-sized business. Why is it that nobody seems to bat an eyelid about appointing career politicians to the top executive jobs in the state? It’s like me finding a smart grad and immediately appointing him as my CEO.

In short, I think it’s about time that entrepreneurs ruled the world. Hopefully Michael Bloomberg will start a trend.

You may recall that a couple of weeks ago, I arranged (via LinkedIn) to have a coffee with an American guy who I thought might have prove useful for my new business idea. Well, after a couple of false starts, we finally caught up this week - and he was amazing...

Seriously, this interview - well, it was more of a chat, really - was probably the best conversation of this type I've ever had. Right from the start, the two of us were on exactly the same wavelength - not only did we get on like a house on fire, but he also loved the idea and was really positive about its chances of success in the UK. In fact, it turns out that the thing he was doing in the US was actually very similar - and better still, he'd worked on both the sales and delivery sides, meaning that he knew the business inside out. So his experience was perfect. Oh, and he also happens to be smart, engaging and extremely presentable. It was a bit like the perfect first date - only better, because he might end up making me lots of money.

God, listen to me gushing. Fortunately, you'll be pleased to hear, I maintained my ice-cool professional demeanour throughout. In my experience, when people seem too good to be true, it's generally because they are - so I delved around to try and find some skeletons in his closet. For instance, I asked why he left the job in the first place, if he liked it as much as he claimed. But it turns out he'd followed his fiancée over when she got a job at some investment bank in the City, only for her to promptly drop him for some hedge fund guy (though apparently they both got the boot from their jobs before Christmas, which he reckons is karma). So even that was quite sympathetic.

Anyway, it was great to pick his brains about who the big US players were, who was doing what in the UK (or may do so in the future), how much start-up capital I'd need, how long it would take to get us up and running, all that kind of thing. But the other interesting angle is whether I might be able to persuade him to come and work for me. He's currently doing some kind of slightly lame-sounding software sales job, so I reckon he's definitely open to persuasion - and since he took a big pay cut when he moved to London, I think I can probably even afford him (if I throw in a few options and stuff).

To be honest, it had never even occurred to me that I'd get someone else to run this thing - after all, setting up new businesses is kind of what I do. But the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Principally, it would mean I spend less time on it, which would limit the risk to the existing business and reassure my staff and investors that there's no chance of me taking my eye off the ball. Plus it almost certainly means that I can attract a better class of person to work there.

Take this American guy, for example - let's call him Ace. Ace is much more likely to dump his existing job if I sell this as an entrepreneurial opportunity, a chance for him to build his own thing with my help and money (that's all the best bits of being an entrepreneur, without the biggest hassles).  And since he knows a lot more about this kind of thing than I do, he might even be better at it than me.

OK, you're right, I don't really believe that. But he might...