When times are tough the smart move is usually the safe one. Trouble is to get Britain’s economy going we need some of its best performers with comfortable careers to step forward and start a new business.

Ironically, with 2 in 3 new businesses failing, having a crack at a new venture appeals most if you’ve just been made redundant, don’t like your co-workers or believe ‘only fools and horses work’.

Let’s be honest, the experienced and successful won’t be treated like an out-of-school amateur, won’t want to talk a young ‘bank manager’ through a business plan, fill in forms for advice or move to a poor part of the country for a rent subsidy.

With these potential pioneers safely scaling corporate ladders distanced from risk, are we missing a trick?

I applaud everyone who starts a business, it’s difficult to make any money at all, but what government needs is to prise the big guns out.

How about offering 100 start-up shells to encourage those with the best career and the most to lose? Include a proprietors tax credit up to current net salary, an interest free loan for prototypes, testing or science, a subsidised feeder office or lab in a block with comm’s and shared facilities right amongst the strongest growth areas where contacts are made and business done.

Put the right people in the right place with the right contacts and things happen.

‘Twas ever thus.