Cambridge & Counties Bank this week celebrated its first anniversary by revealing that it has issued around £40 million in secured lending, made up of around 100 individual loans to small and medium-sized businesses.

Significant deals involving Cambridge UK technology cluster companies topped a quarter of a billion dollars in May – taking the cumulative total in the last two months to around the $750m mark.

A new, transatlantic VC fund has set up in Cambridge UK to back cutting edge technology ventures.

SMEs previously constrained by size and perception have been handed the chance to build high-powered finance teams thanks to expansion into a new service area by a specialist in the Cambridge UK technology cluster.

The Cambridge technology cluster in the UK continued to punch above its weight in global dealflow as transaction value in April topped $0.5 billion.

Ensors Corporate Finance team have started the new fiscal year in fine style, completing a record five corporate transactions in the past month.

Cambridge based advisory specialist, Future Materials Group (FMG), has helped a German client secure unspecified but important growth investment.

Not one company from the Cambridge technology cluster features in the rankings of UK private companies with the fastest-growing bottom lines.

A new crowdfunding syndicate has been launched in the Cambridge UK technology cluster.

I was going to start this piece by saying that as George Osborne stood to present his 4th Budget all the smart money was on a Budget with very little drama as, quite simply, he had no room for manoeuvre.

I do not think that I have ever felt so negative prior to a Budget before. I am not certain if it is just the world weariness of having “seen and heard it all before” that comes with age or whether it is down to the lack of room for manoeuvre owing to the parlous state of the economy, or whether it is specific to this Chancellor. I suspect it is all of the above.

One may be excused for concluding that the medical profession are receiving a not so subtle message from the Treasury to work less hard. Well that may not be the intention although many general practitioners might be interpreting the effect of hard work as a sure way of damaging their finances.

I think the general consensus is that the government needs to take measures to stimulate growth in order that the economy starts moving in the right direction.

Charities are already facing a number of imminent changes. Some of these are designed to be beneficial, but it is clear that others will only increase the administrative burden.

If I was about to start my own business what would I be looking for from the Government in their next budget?

Ask anyone with a family “What do you want from this month’s budget?” and the answers will hardly surprise you; lower taxes, cheaper fuel, lower council tax, and so on.