The Gray Monk

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August 01, 2005

It's official?

The Iron Chancellor - no not that mean-spirited curmudgeon we currently call the Chancellor of the Exchequer - but the great Graf Otto von Bismarck, the man who created a United Germany in the 1860's, once remarked "Never believe anything until it has been officially denied"

Well, since several junior Ministers and their civil service poodles have now "officially" denied the Government's intention to adopt the recommendation of the Centre for Policy Studies, a government think-tank, that all workers should now work until they are 67 before retiring, it must be official policy. They argue that this will solve the current crisis in funding pensions - a crisis created almost entirely by this government's raid on pension funds - and it is sustainable, they argue, because everyone is living longer. Well, not if the government's other great "triumph" of ideology, the NHS, gets its hands on you. They seem to be the other solution for the pensions crisis - kill off the pensioners with neglect, refused, or delayed treatment and you solve the problem. I note that no one is suggesting that the worthless denizens of Westminster or Whitehall take later pensions or a cut in their very generous pensions paid for - in large part - by the very people they are saying must delay taking a pension because the government can't afford it!

Well, now its been officially denied, believe it. We will all be required to work to 67 before we can get the pension we have contributed to for all our working lives. But the Whitehall and Westminster crew won't - they are a "special" case and not to be treated like the rest of us "masses".

Remember, you read it here first.

Posted by The Gray Monk at August 1, 2005 10:05 AM

Comments

Posted by: skipjack at August 2, 2005 07:37 PM