Isn't this whole pension issue about change?

Large institutions (businesses and unions included) don't like change and don't deal with it very well.

A good example was the recent tube union industrial action about TFL wanting to reduce ticket office services. Shock, horror, we must stop this outrage. But hang on, I can't remember the last time I used a TFL ticket office to buy a ticket. A thing called Oyster came along and changed things.

Ditto pensions. When someone dies aged 75 we don't think that is particularly old these days. We are all living much longer and living longer comes at a cost.

If we are going to have a debate about pensions let's do it properly and publicise the exact cost of public sector pensions job by job.

That way we can compare public sector packages (wage and cash value of pension) with private sector packages (wage and cash value of pension).

For those of you saving for a private pension a visit to the FSA annuity website may prove a salutary lesson. This will give you an insight into the true cost of pensions:

http://tables.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/...Annuities/

Simply type in the amount of money you have saved up in your private pension to see how much retirement income (AKA an annuity) you might end up with when you come to retire.

As a rough guide a £100,000 pension pot might get you £3,500 pension a year depending on your age and whether or not you want any indexation to guard against inflation. The current state pension is about £5,300 per year for a single person.

Clarkson is a buffoon. His only use is to smoke out sanctimonious fools who take him seriously.