Mrs Thatcher would not have approved of the Chancellor's change. This is not speculation, because she could have done it herself but didn't. She would have understood the actuarial calculations resulting from greatly increased longevity, and she wouldn't have shied away from the unpleasant reality of returns based on pooling risk. And the reason for today's outcry isn't because the system is suddenly defective but rather that annuity rates have halved, mainly because people are living longer.

Taking personal control of thousands of pounds of cash and deciding how best to use it, as the Osborne pension change requires, is a very different proposition from buying your own council house. The risks are hugely greater. Those in their fifties or sixties, retiring from what may have been a job quite unconnected with finance, have to estimate how long they will live, what capital and annual income they will need, and how much various assets will yield. In theory, they can revise their decisions, which the one-time purchase of an annuity precludes. But, in practice, life generally becomes more not less complicated, and mental faculties less not more capable, as the years go by. Financial improvidence comes in many forms. Boris Johnson displayed his Bullingdon wit by describing hypothetical pensioners eating dog food in a rusty Lamborghini. It is equally probable that many will simply finish poor — and press for a higher state pension — because they keep too much in cash, or because greedy offspring wheedle it out of them. This, in truth, was a Budget devoid of human wisdom, apparently bespoke — designed by young twits for old fools.