Hm.....

This might seem very much a case of a turkey voting for Christmas, but has the time come to consider requiring pensioners - at least those who have income other than the basic state pension - to pay National Insurance contributions? We make big and disproportionate demands on the NHS, and the cost of that and our state pension is paid for by those who are working, and the ratio of one to t'other is rapidly reducing as life expectancy increases. There are constant calls for the pension to be increased, and to be linked to average earnings rather than the cost of living index (which doesn't really reflect the "cost of living" at all), but if anything like this is ever to be achieved I think pensioners themselves may have to contribute to the pot. Obviously I would suggest that the contributions should be at a reduced rate to reflect the fact that pensioners do not qualify for many of the scheme's benefits, and the question of whether current pensioners should be included or not needs some thought.