Theodore Dalrymple is not buying the notion that the British public pension scheme is actually solvent. The article is available over at The Epoch Times.

In essence, what has been issued is a promissory note: the government has promised aging populations pensions and other benefits that it will oblige future generations to pay for. This is a winning electoral formula, especially in an aging population much of which has spent its life improvidently spending its income as though it were pocket money.