At long last the debacle that has befallen the nation’s pensions provision has become apparent. Even now, however, the scale of the disaster and the damage it is doing to our economy is not fully appreciated.

The liability for unfunded public sector pensions is gigantic. Government and private sector estimates put its capital value at between £500bn and £750bn, bigger than the national debt. Others have put it even higher. And it is a real liability: everyone knows that if you live longer you have to work longer; denying this and keeping the public sector retirement age at 60 is a scandal. Yet the government deliberately shies away from facing it, judging that the beneficiaries’ votes are important while the rest of us will not notice. But the longer the inevitable is delayed, the worse the problem gets, and it will not be long before mere arithmetic erupts into social trouble.