Their future has no call for delay

Speaking about the now long-awaited Your Island Pension secondary savings scheme, he said: ‘There’s never a good time to bring this in. A good time to bring it in is always 30 years ago.’

And yesterday, with apparently no public or employer outcry, suddenly States members were agreeing with him that this wasn’t a great time to be introducing a savings scheme for old age, which the States had already approved more than two years ago.

Rising inflation, war in Ukraine, Covid, Brexit – Deputy Sasha Kazantseva-Miller wondered how many more things Brexit could be blamed for – all the usual excuses were rolled out. It just wasn’t a good time for anyone to have even less spending power in their pocket, said the opposition.

The counter argument is that it’s never a good time to put off saving for retirement, putting more power in the future grey pound, avoiding having to claim for state assistance in old age.

Far too many islanders have just the old age pension, and its possibly vulnerable prospects, to look forward to in retirement. Many islanders, probably better off than average, won’t even be impacted by the secondary scheme.

But for the many who will, short-term thinking for today is surely misguided when thinking of their futures.