Getting better in order to work until I drop?

As I am laid up recuperating from a rather nasty illness (plus the side effects of treatment for prostate cancer) I was not entirely delighted to see the rabid wing of the Tory Party flying a kite about extending my state pension age by another three years.

Thanks to the concessions which the unions were forced to make after we retreated from the confrontation with the Coalition Government over public service pensions following the great strike of 30 November 2011, my state pension age is also my normal pension age for the purposes of the Local Government Pension Scheme, as is the case for all local government workers.

If a rabidly reactionary Government can get away with raising the state pension age this will automatically mean that workers paying into our pension funds in the belief that the settlement of the last pensions dispute was “for a generation” will face the prospect of lifetime (actuarial) reductions in the pension (for which we have paid for many years) if we retire at our current normal pension age.

This is just one tiny part of the Tory plan for a low-wage, low productivity Brexit Britain, the answer to which is not a “Government of National Unity” but a socialist-led Labour Government. I look forward to recovering in time to campaign for that outcome in the coming General Election.