Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson – the most high profile campaigners for Brexit, have given us a barrage of reasons why they do not want to lead Britain’s divorce from the European Union now that the divorce is final. The “leavers” of Britain are leaving their leadership posts. They are running away. Meanwhile, they are urging, no demanding – that the “stayers” who lost the vote, must now negotiate the new arrangements that are required. We consider that quite ironic!
We commend the maturity of Mr Cameron who has refused to lead a movement that he is not and was not committed to, we cannot help but wonder why he isn’t going the route of seeking a fresh mandate; rather than leave his party bogged down with the bitter task. We wish Mrs May the best of luck. She is ascending at a time when the ship of state requires a lot of steady hands. Could it be that three of the world’s superpowers (USA, Germany, UK) will be simultaneously led by women?
There was an inquiry in the UK into the Iraq war. The results, unsurprisingly, is damning. There appears to have been no justification for Britain’s involvement in the war. Tony Blair, the then British Prime Minister has accepted full responsibility for taking his country into war and the dire consequences. Tony went to help a friend and friendly government, but that friend and government has remained silent, allowing Blair to take the blame alone. It is ironic that a link is now emerging between the instability in the Middle East and the removal of two “dictators”, Saddam and Gaddafi via the actions of the West.
At home, it is also ironic that, in the fall out from the stem cell fiasco, the Opposition is finding fault with the system of retiring public servants at age 55. We agree that this a young age, and note that while it is seven years adrift from Social Security pension, the occupational pension is payable immediately. With this paper being a leader in public education, we will explain the rationale of the age [55].
In the old colonial days, persons entered the pensionable establishment of Government at the age of majority, which was then age 21. Pension rights in the public service are accrued at the rate of 2% over year to a maximum rate of 67%. Therefore, after 34 years (33⅓ to be exact), pension rights are maximised and there is no further pension advantage to be gained unless there is an increase in salary. By simple mathematics, a full public career service therefore ends at age 55.
Strange how things sometimes work out.
