The Pin Factory Blog

On Tuesday 9th March the ASI will be holding its first Independent Seminar for the Open Society of the new decade. A one-day conference for sixth-form students interested in politics and economics, it is named after Sir Karl Popper’s book The Open Society and Its Enemies and as such is based upon the principles on open and tolerant society.

ISOS always attracts prominent and distinguished names from all areas of politics, journalism and business; past speakers include the likes of Boris Johnson, Andrew Marr, Vince Cable and Yasmin Alibhai-Brown. It allows students to get involved with the issues discussed; after a 15-20 minute talk students have the opportunity to question the speaker, and voice their own opinions and reactions. Following the success of last October’s trial, ISOS will also be hosting a debate between two panels of experts.

The theme for March’s seminar is ‘Renewing Britain’, and will examine the difficulties and opportunities facing the UK. As always, the talks promise to be on the cutting-edge of politics and economics, whilst complementing A-level syllabi. To book a place at ISOS, please e-mail isos@adamsmith.com. Both individual and school bookings are welcome.

Like most organizations that commit themselves to a ‘fairer’ society, the UK’s equality watchdog – The Equality and Human Rights Commission – rarely comes up with socially or economically sensible ideas. Its new set of proposals focuses on over 50s in the workforce, and caries the usual suggestions for ‘anti-discriminatory’ government initiatives and legislation that would bog down the labour market and do more harm than good. However, they also suggest one very good idea: namely scrapping the default retirement age.

The state pension age reflects an era where many workers only lived a few years past the retirement age. Nowadays however, 64% of women and 24% of men wish to work beyond this, and provided they are still adding value to their workplace, they should be free to do so. Out-of-date legislation shouldn’t be used to push the workforce onto state dependency.

Once out of work, people must rely on their lifetime savings and any available pension to get by. And as people are living longer, their own saving must stretch further, while pension schemes become increasingly strained and unsustainable. When people retire at 65, they take with them valuable skills and knowledge that could still contribute to the economy and provide them with personal financial and personal gain. Abolishing the default retirement age makes individuals better off & the public purse a little less pushed: Research from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research suggests that extending the average Briton’s working life by 18months would net Britain an extra £15bn.

The Department of Work and Pensions has signalled that it is taking this suggestion seriously, which can only be a good thing. Now, onto reforming the giant Ponzi scheme of a state pension...