In an election year, all parties will try to be all things to all men. Mostly, it’s only stuff which matters ‘on the doorstep’ which matters. In isolation, Mrs Miggins (not my invention) will be delighted that her pension has gone up with the highest measure of inflation; and no one running a business will be complaining that National Insurance has been reduced. And the two are no longer directly connected, as, although you need to ‘pay your stamp’ for the right number of years to get your state pension, it’s not actually paid for from a separate, stamp-related pot. But you can bet that if someone in some future government decides that the inflation-linking can be cut, it will be National Insurance which will be blamed. And cut it will be, I’m afraid, in the not-too distant, post-election, future.
“Why you should never retire”
On my 50th birthday, I will always remember, amongst the card or two I received was a letter from Saga’ who’d managed to find out my age through the wonder of the internet, and were pleased to tell me I now qualified to join my parents and go on holiday with them.
