50% Pension at 60

Instead of making working less an, 'either/or', argument it should be made an, 'at what age', argument. Work 5 days, or 6 when you are young and fit, work 60 or 70 hour weeks, but don't be expected to keep this up in your 50s and 60s, especially if you are in a physical job.

You could even tie this to years spent claiming Benefits, as an incentive to get young people into a work ethic. You only get to complain about the retirement age if you've been working all the years up to retirement.

And in a way, we are working less already, by living longer when we retire.

I would take things a step further and let people be eligible for a 50% pension at age 60 or so. This would allow them to slow down a little before fully retiring. They could afford to drop a day or more, opening up opportunities for younger people to advance in the workplace, while still keeping their years of experience on tap for the employer.

I think people doing well paid work they enjoy are too critical of people who don't want to do menial work for minimum wage. There needs to be a pay off, even if it isn't financial, for people who spend the majority of their working life doing jobs people don't generally want to do.

I enjoyed working when I was young but was never in a highly paid job. I liked learning new skills and was happy to do long days and long weeks. Luckily my parents encouraged me to prepare early for retiring young as I find it a struggle now. I've reduced my hours and will fully retire in a couple of years, hopefully.

While I was young and planning a simple life of early retirement we had good public spaces, good public infrastructure, good public services and all the other things that made being poor not only bearable, but in way almost joyful in its simplicity. But the wealthy people have been chipping away at society since Thatcher declared there was no such thing, squeezing everyone who wasn't wealthy into a precarious or wretched existence so that they can have more and more. 

Everything that used to be ours we now have to pay to use, so even with 40 years of preparation I wonder if I am doing the right thing.