The Great Pensions Robbery: How New Labour Betrayed Retirement

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No issue shames the New Labor government elected in 1997 more that the systematic destruction of Britainx2019;s pensions system. When Labor came to power, some five million workers enjoyed "gold standard" defined benefit pensionsx97;which paid them a percentage of final salariesx97;and Britain had the most robust system of private retirement provision in the world. That number has since collapsed to 1.6m, leaving millions of Britons facing an uncertain future and, in many cases, the grim choice of working until they drop or an impoverished old age. The past dreams of a cottage on the South Coast or wintering on the Med or in Florida have long gone. Award-winning journalist Alex Brummer goes behind the scenes to explain exactly what has been going on. What emerges is a shocking story of cynicism and inaction, in which a government bent on penny-pinching, a civil service cowed in to submission, and individuals more interested in their careers than public service have all taken a part in fatally undermining a 100-year-old system. It's also a story of breathtaking hypocrisy, where those in charge have feather-bedded their own pensions while destroying those of ordinary people. And, as Alex Brummer convincingly argues, we're only just starting to live with the appalling consequences.

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Alex Brummer is a financial journalist and commentator. After a stint at the Guardian he moved to be city editor at the Daily Mail in 2000. He has won prizes both as a foreign correspondent and economics writer, includingxA0;Business Journalist of the Year 2006, Newspaper Journalist 2002, and Best City Journalist 2000. His books include Hanson: A Biography, Weinstock: The Life and Times of Britain's Premier Industrialist, and The Crunch.