The final salary pension schemes enjoyed by our members in the public services but by few in private industry (retirement at 60, inflation-proofed pensions based on length of service) will soon be going the way of the dodo.

This will mean our members being thrown back on a totally inadequate state pension and, if they are lucky, some private pension provision which they have been able to accumulate during their working lives.

Such terms as SIPP (Self-Invested Personal Pension), MVA (Market Value Adjustment), BMF (Balanced Managed Fund) will soon become common currency between NUJ members and not just the parlance of pension nerds such as myself.

Let me suggest one campaign the union might support (no, not self-defeating headline-grabbers such as “Hands Off Our Pensions” and “No ConLib Cuts”) but one which might have a faint chance of success.

This would focus on the restoration of Pensions Income Tax Relief (stay awake at the back
there!). In order to understand what this is about I need to take you back to 1997 and the first masterstroke of our Great Chancellor and subsequent Great Leader Gordon Brown.

His little-noticed abolition of the aforesaid Pensions Income Tax Relief in his first budget was presented as a totally painless way of paying for Labour’s Brave New World (it wasn’t). At a stroke Gordo grabbed £5 BILLION a year from our pensions, consigning many final salary schemes – which were already facing difficulties – to the scrapheap and other Money Purchase schemes (whose value is entirely dependent on the investments they hold) into prolonged decline.

Why did this happen? Well, all pension schemes are based on a fund of cash, apart from public service pensions which contain no funds at all except for the contributions of present and future taxpayers (Nye Bevan – one of the founders of the welfare state – jovially admitted: “The great secret about the National Insurance fund is that there ain’t no fund.” – Nice one, Nye.) Pension funds hold mainly shares, and the type of shares they prefer are large companies which pay annual dividends – say 3 to 6 per cent a year – because this provides income for the pension holder and, hopefully, growth in the capital value of the fund (which pensioner at the back there did I hear say “Dream on”?)

By removing Pensions Income Tax Relief Gordo made the schemes much less profitable and less likely to deliver improved returns. The subsequent implosion in world financial markets delivered the coup de grace.

Indeed we have now reached the stage where it is questionable whether it is worth investing in a pension scheme at all – certainly without a significant contribution from a company (those of you fortunate enough to be in work), I would advise again it. You would be better putting your money into stock market ISAs. You will forgo the 20pc tax top-up from the Inland Revenue but any capital gain can be taken (in the form of regular income if you prefer) entirely tax free. Income from a pension is taxed as normal so you can find yourself migrating into a higher tax bracket.

Enough you say (those of you still awake). And you are right. But remember this. You youngsters are likely to live to 90 and beyond – and that is an awfully long time to be envying those MPs (and union leaders) retiring on pensions you can only dream about.