confusion all round, but not helped by commentators in the press who want to suggest that the cause/cure of the current crisis in the public sector.

The application of 'gold plated' to pensions was used as a term of abuse, and the repeated use of it in these discussions is vectored in that direction.

The state pension is funded by NI payments - at least that was how it was set up originally.

Public sector pensions, like all occupational pensions, are effectively deferred pay. Salary and pension is part of the pay package, with employer and employee making contributions throughout a working life. It is mischievous to suggest that somehow people who work in the public sector are somehow to blame for the current crisis.

The comment about taxpayers and Government borrowing is rather odd. Big companies avoid paying vast amounts of tax. Very high earners, say over £150000 pa, only pay 50% tax. The government was able to find billions to go and bomb Libya. There are no hard and fast rules about what can be collected in tax and what can be borrowed, although successive governments have presented the economy as though it was similar to household budgeting, which it isn't. The way out of the current crisis will be through inflation - i.e. paying debt in reduced value pounds. The attack on the public sector (that is the NHS, schools, universities, public sector pensions etc) is simply politically motivated and has absolutely nothing to do with the international financial crisis.