Steer clear of murky financial services

Mr Berry is right in so far as that in the good old days the date at which you would start receiving your States pension was inscribed in stone.

But if Mr Berry cares to do his sums he will discover that the current measly States pension has more buying power than it did in the 70s, and an elderly person dependent solely on a States pension gets free healthcare and free transport (if they can get a friend to help them to the bus stop): a distant dream in the 'good old days'.

I'm in my 60s but as, like Roger Berry, I do a job that largely involves sitting down and pressing buttons, I can see myself, if the Lord preserves me, working until I am 70: albeit for three days a week.

It is of course very different for a manual worker (I tried that kind of work in my 20s – never again thank you: after finishing paid work for the day I needed three pints and a couple of hours before I became human again); they, i.e. the productive workers in our population, whether nurses, sous chefs, greenhouse workers or builder's labourers, should be rewarded with early retirement.

The rest of us can potter on in our so-called jobs almost unto extinction.

If your question poser does have some spare dosh I would strongly advise him not to devalue it by buying a 'product' in the world of PTPBR (Personal Tax, Pensions and Benefits Review).

Invest it in lovely things that have been made by people who enjoyed making them.

Try to ensure that all the food you buy is fairly traded or locally grown.

And try not to enlarge your carbon footprint by burning up irreplaceable fossil fuels, flying to the far side of the world or dashing across to France in your motor boat just for the weekend.

I've heard Herm and Moulin Huet are very nice at this time of the year.

And have a drink in your local at least once a week: you will meet grown-up people there – especially

if you stand at the bar or thereabouts.

And if your correspondent wants to get political, press your deputy to make the States bring in Serps (State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme).

It is already at least 30% in place with so many people employed by the States.

All we need to do is accept that the best way to fund pensions is for those who are currently working, to support those who are currently of pensionable age, and steer clear of the world of murky financial services (investors of our old friend the subprime mortgage).

As even the Old Etonian of the largely ludicrous wet-plummy pronouncements says: 'We are all in this together', which I think means that we should all look after each other and not live sad avaricious lives.

See you in the Foresters' Arms.

TIM BARNES,

2, Salter Street,

St Peter Port,

GY1 2BW.