Why, asked Philip Larkin in his poem “Toads” (1954), “should I let the toad work/ Squat on my life? Can’t I use my wit as a pitchfork/ And drive the brute off?”
The post-second world war generation took up their pitchforks with gusto and escaped work as early as they could. Many retired in their fifties, aided by redundancy packages from employers who feared that older workers could not keep up the pace.
Now we see a reversal. Average retirement ages are rising throughout the developed world as individuals with inadequate pension savings face longer lifespans, employers confront a shortage of younger workers and governments struggle to fund services for ageing populations.
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