Local and self indulgent

The concept and more to the point, the affordability of paid retirement is but a brief interlude covering perhaps only one, maybe two generations as the realisation in the West, that due to the length of life and the changing demographic, families getting smaller, the concept of "paying people" when they are no longer working is becoming less and less affordable.

Its a chilling assessment that my generation were "but a blip" in the mechanics of 'work till you drop' and the part a decent pension plays in our lives for making the provision to pay for the things we will still need when we get older and can no longer work.
When I speak to the people who work for a London Borough, I know that they don't fully appreciate, or factor in, the special provision of a generous pension to their pay packet.
It's a generosity that Private Enterprise is increasingly refusing to consider.   

An 'employee pension' provision is now largely relegated to senior management. Even the banks who used to offer their employees a Private Pension, now no longer do so, you have to 'sit at the boardroom table' to ensure that your 'special place' in the organisation is reflected by the maintenance of your remuneration package, the substantial perk of a final salary linked pension.
As the world becomes awash with billionaires we have to realise that we are "not of the right cut"  to assume any special provision. To be special you have to be born special or be ruthless in making your way to your own riches in which case you won't need a pension.
People are becoming expendable again. For a short time we thought we were all in the same lifeboat but as the Titanic sank, so did the concept. The gallantry came from the band as it played on, not the rich who pushed the women aside to gain a seat. I suppose it was their unalienable right and their inherited importance which drove them on.
Of course we could follow the common sense displayed by Australia who, as in so many things, this relatively young nation is pragmatic in its aspirations and not tied to ideological constraints which the more established nations force themselves to conform to.
The Aussies say to themselves, in our society we shouldn't have any free loaders. We can only accomplish anything if we acknowledge that every cause has an accompanying cost and has to be planned, therefore pension contributions have to be made by 'everyone' as a statutory responsibility. It's the same in their attitude to voting, its compulsory on the basis that each vote matters and the political outcome is important. They do have a plan regarding immigration, they do have a method of sifting the type of person they need for the economy and excluding people who would contribute little.
Their ability to put Australia first regardless of world opinion is refreshing. In so far as the UK is concerned, opinion is often formed by considerations which often include the whole of humanity when in reality, the consideration people have within a nation is much more local and self indulgent.