We are reinvigorating what retirement means

[moorfield]

Eh ??

This is one of the more stupid soundbites I've heard come out of Clegg's mouth or backside (I forget which) recently.

[doodab]

By the sound of it retirement will come to mean keeling over and dying.

[Churchill]

By the sound of it retirement will come to mean keeling over and dying.

Yeah but just think of the annuity rates!

[Lockhouse]

A tax rise by any other name - and a massive one at that.

[Churchill]

A tax rise by any other name - and a massive one at that.

A direct consequence of the mess that Labour left us in. It might be a bitter pill to swallow but don't forget who gave us the Flu in the first place!

Socialism is a disease!

[Doggy Styles]

Eh ??

This is one of the more stupid soundbites I've heard come out of Clegg's mouth or backside (I forget which) recently.

First of all, this language was invented by Labour, and it has proved to work (evidence: three election victories)

Secondly, raising the state pension age would have been inevitable even without Labour's deficit. The current age was set when the pensionable population was less than half what it is now, so the state is having to find more than twice the money just to stand still. It is barmy.

[Mich the Tester]

First of all, this language was invented by Labour, and it has proved to work (evidence: three election victories)

Secondly, raising the state pension age would have been inevitable even without Labour's deficit. The current age was set when the pensionable population was less than half what it is now, so the state is having to find more than twice the money just to stand still. It is barmy.

Would it not be more effective to get more people to start working earlier? Over 65s are likely to need more time for medical care and become less productive. OK, people are working shorter and living longer, so it seems to me that if 50% of young people are going to university and only starting work at 21/22, there’s 4 or 5 years of potential productivity being lost. Why not get more people to start work at 17 or 18 and get their education in the evenings or part time through night school or OU? That way people would be working longer, but in the healthiest and most energetic period of their lives, and the pension age might not need to rise dramatically. All over Europe we have outstanding part time and open education provision, but the standard idea seems to be to stay in full time education for longer and longer and start work later.

Or would bourgeois parents be offended by not being able to boast that young Hamish is 'reading media studies in Sunderland'? He could of course work at Sainsburys and study engineering on the OU. It might take longer for him to graduate, but he'd have plenty of useful experience to go with it.

Just an idea.

[Gibbon]

FFS we're contractors, why worry about the measly state pension. I'll be retiring at 50 anyway only 7 years to go !

[doodab]

Or would bourgeois parents be offended by not being able to boast that young Hamish is 'reading media studies in Sunderland'? He could of course work at Sainsburys and study engineering on the OU. It might take longer for him to graduate, but he'd have plenty of useful experience to go with it.

Just an idea.

Most people have to work part time while studying anyway. That's why the courses are only 10 hours a week.

[TimberWolf]

Would it not be more effective to get more people to start working earlier? Over 65s are likely to need more time for medical care and become less productive. OK, people are working shorter and living longer, so it seems to me that if 50% of young people are going to university and only starting work at 21/22, there’s 4 or 5 years of potential productivity being lost. Why not get more people to start work at 17 or 18 and get their education in the evenings or part time through night school or OU? That way people would be working longer, but in the healthiest and most energetic period of their lives, and the pension age might not need to rise dramatically. All over Europe we have outstanding part time and open education provision, but the standard idea seems to be to stay in full time education for longer and longer and start work later.

Or would bourgeois parents be offended by not being able to boast that young Hamish is 'reading media studies in Sunderland'? He could of course work at Sainsburys and study engineering on the OU. It might take longer for him to graduate, but he'd have plenty of useful experience to go with it.

Just an idea.

WHS.