This year's budget, delivered by the dour Alistair Darling, contained few surprises and is not too bad unless you are a smoker, heavy drinker and drive around in a gas guzzling SUV. This is a brief summary of the main budget changes

The main issue to arise out of this year's budget is the decline in the world economic prospects. This is reflected in lower economic growth forecasts and a deterioration in the government's finances. This left the chancellor little room for manoeuvre.

Alot of the UK's financial problems have been blamed on the credit crunch. This is an explanation of the credit crunch Some more questions on the credit crisis

Other links

• A random walk through economic statistics