Quote of the day

"The first ... will sound a little bit morbid - some of the people ... won't be around to vote against you in the next election. So that's just a practical point, and the other point is they might have forgotten by then. If you did it now, chances are that in 2020 someone who has had their winter fuel cut might be thinking, 'Oh I can't remember, was it this government or was it the last one? I'm not quite sure.'"

Alex Wild, a research director at the Taxpayers' Alliance, outlines his two reasons for advising the government to cut benefits for pensioners immediately.

Like many young people (no sniggering at the back...), I find it irritating and unfair that pensioners have been guaranteed that their perks would be protected while austerity measures are targeted at the rest of us. However, Wild's reasons are not the ones I'd use to advocate a change of policy...

(Thanks to Matt for the link.)