Demonised and Vilified

29th July 2010

'Sometimes you step off the pavement and get hit by a bus' grumbled the ex BP Chief in a fit of pique, blaming his plight on the unfairness of the press, whom he said had 'demonised and vilified' him. Of course, as we step off the pavement, most of us don't get hit by a bus carrying £12M in pension and payoff salary on our way to another job within the company with an expectation of up to £4M a year in pay and bonus to cushion the blow.

So Tony, a little advice, stop whinging and suck it up... like you should have in the Gulf of Mexico.

Work till you drop...

It makes a great headline, 'work till you drop', invoking as it does, grainy black and white images of elderly folk breaking rocks, lashed by some grinning, brute faced thug. The reality of the matter isn't quite so dreadful, the retirement age for men is being raised in four years from 65 to 66, and the default retirement age at which a company can boot you out the door for a younger, cheaper model is being scrapped.

The fact is we are leading longer, healthier lives and our pension pot can't support it, we have to do something and getting rid of compulsory retirement is a good start. A word of caution though, we need balances and checks to make sure we're not just taking 65 year olds off pensions and putting 18 year olds on benefits.