The existence of private pension schemes is one of the reasons the UK has been able to cut

The existence of private pension schemes is one of the reasons the UK has been able to cut state pensions so much.Since the UK scores well on all three counts, it is not surprising that it has much lower future pension commitments than most of continental Europe. IMF research suggests that average contributions of just 6.4 per cent of earnings are required to keep the UK system in actuarial balance, compared with 43 per cent in Italy*.These differences will increase. By the middle of the next century, if present trends continue, the UK's required level of contributions will have fallen to 5 per cent of earnings over 70 per cent in Italy.But will present trends continue? Demography can change in unexpected ways. Moreover, these extrapolations are based on the assumption of a fixed retirement age that is already breaking down in the USA, and may do so in the UK and the rest of Europe.

Demographic and retirement age pressures could thus mitigate the crisis for Europe but carry no necessary threat for the UK. It would be illogical to take comfort from comparisons that depend on the basic British state pension falling further and further behind the incomes of those in work.Flemings Investment Trust Management's 1997 "Pension Map" suggests that over a third of the UK's 24 million households would retire in financial hardship (defined as less than 40 per cent of final earnings).If the basic pension were to be raised in line with earnings instead of prices, OECD figures show that UK public pension liabilities would be similar to those of Germany, though still well below those of France or Italy. Hence the search for alternatives schemes, such as the Government's Pension Plus, which offer to deliver higher retirement incomes at no additional cost to the taxpayer.But do private pensions in their present form offer a viable way forward?The UK's private pension assets have grown almost exclusively on the back of occupational pension schemes. These have roots stretching back to the 1920s and 1930s, and grew enormously from the 1950s to the 1980s as more and more employees came within their scope.Structural changes in labour markets, in particular towards more part- time and contract work, the growth of small companies and self-employment, and the development of personal pensions have all contributed.Personal pensions, however, do not yet constitute a complete answer.

So the UK's present and prospective pension position, attractive though it may be by European standards, does not give grounds for complacency.* Chand & Jaeger "Ageing Populations and Public Pension Schemes", December 1996Robert Laslett, London Economics. George Milner was a leading analytical chemist who made outstanding contributions to his discipline both scientifically and professionally. Most of his career was spent in public service, mainly in the sphere of atomic energy, where he became head in 1958 of the Actinide Analysis Group at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment, until his retirement in 1983. At Harwell Milner led a team of analysts that built an international reputation for the quality and innovativeness of its work in the exacting field of atomic energy. His judgement and meticulousness set the standards which led to success in characterising the materials essential to the developing industry. Not only was it essential to analyse chemically many proto-type nuclear fuels, before and after irradiation, it was also important to characterise the wide variety of metals, alloys, ceramics and fluids used in the construction and operation of nuclear reactors and plant.