OAPs worried about pensions and others thought it'll be sorted before I need it. Now, young people worry about it and there is a growing rift between public and private sector workers.

The latter feel that they are fighting for trade in an increasingly hostile, competitive and risky world market place and those in the public sector are their back up. The infantry and the home front, you could say.

Somebody has an idea and creates a product hoping it will sell. The market has to be defined and investors found. It then has to be produced, packaged, launched and distributed to where it can be bought, through a sales force and resellers. The treasury and all our services depend for their finance on it selling and creating a profit. Nothing happens until somebody sells an idea or a product.

There are no guarantees, jobs for life, early retirement or inflation proofed pensions.

Not everybody is suited to one sector or the other. Each depends on the other and is essential to our progress as a nation. It is wrong to ask one sector to work longer for the other to retire earlier. If those positions were reversed where would we be?

Updated: 14:01 Tuesday, December 13, 2005