Levelling up, not levelling down

If true, this is a really stupid idea:

"Millions of public sector workers will have their pensions slashed under plans to deal with a massive shortfall in the value of local government pension funds, The Times has learnt.

John Denham, the Communities Secretary, is drawing up a series of proposals to overhaul the pensions of two million council workers, covering short, medium and longer terms.

Senior staff could lose out on tens of thousands of pounds a year if the changes are applied across the board.

A senior local government official who has been briefed on some of the proposals said that doctors, nurses and teachers were likely to face similar changes as the public sector burden becomes unaffordable."

This is, shall we say, an issue to leave until after the election. In the next few months, ministers could better spend their time coming up with ideas to increase pensions for workers in the private sector, rather than levelling down pensions in the public sector.