John Mitchem

I don’t suppose many in Britain listened to Mark Carney speak at Davos but this post makes me want to. Firstly for the regard we have for Mark Carney as a former Governor of the Bank of England , secondly for standing up to the attempts to annexe his and neighbouring companies by Donald Trump.

Mark Carney

Now there is a third reason I will hold Carney in the highest regard and John Mitchem is to be thanked for bringing Carney’s remarks on pensions at Davos to our attention

We hold Australia in high regard for its Supers but there is another former colonial nation that makes a commonwealth of pension peers and there is much about Canada that reminds me of what the Pension Schemes Bill aspires to. Like us, Canada has a collective past and like us it is funding pensions from private and public purses collectively.

Thank you to John Mitchem for including important statistics of the make up of Canadian pension funds. Many of these are not properly understood by me and I hope that their relevance will be properly explained in comments – or by email – or by blogs – if anyone wants to make their voices heard in that way (you can blog anonymously).

Is this the first time ever that a head of state has cited well-funded pensions as a geoeconomic, even geostrategic asset?

I wonder if this is something that our Government would like to do. Whether Torsten Bell or Rachel Reeves will devote time when they have public platforms, to explain not just the future but our pension past.

The past year has seen the dismissal of our funded pension past questioned. There have been people who have put their heels in the ground and asked that their pension schemes be regarded as Carney regards Canadian collective schemes, not for disposal to insurance but as a means to make money for those who are in them , for their sponsors and indeed for the nation that has subsidised their accumulation through tax relief.

This week I have been following the House of Lords and those who have Carney’s vision, I have spent time with those who sit within TPR with “Vision” and I have talked with the DWP about how we can revive collective endeavour within pensions. I have often thought of Canada, a country whose pensions I have admired through friends such as Andy Young who as much as any in the past quarter of a century, has kept hope alive within Government.

John Mitchem is American and brave to praise Carney at this time. But I am grateful for him bringing Carney’s comments to light on both sides of the pond. I will make sure to listen to Carney’s speech over the weekend and hope to take inspiration. I hope that Carney is quoted by our leaders and that we can find a platform for Mitchem in this country.

An afterthought from Naomi