There are times when real life proves that satire is only an amateur when it comes to poking fun at the people in power. In tweeting this yesterday and inviting people to retweet it, Grant Shapps who is currently Chairman of the Conservative Party proved that he was capable of making dreadful decisions in very poor taste. This poster would suggest that either Lynton Crosby is on annual leave, or else that his effectiveness is on the wane. I confess that I personally have had experience of both Beer and Bingo, although not frequently enough for me to feel that I was one of the people this poster was designed for. I am not sure if this means that I am not one of the hardworking people in the eyes of the Conservative Party but it certainly proves to me once again that they are desperately out of touch with my life. I did do a search for the word Bingo on the Conservative Party website this morning and there are only two references. One is in a report on entrepreneurship where the issue of bingo licensing is cited as a barrier to growth, the other is on the biography of Edward Timpson (heir to the Timpson shoe shops) who is proud that he rebelled against the Government on previous changes t the Bingo Tax. Perhaps they are not as familiar with Bingo as Mr Shapps thinks.

Yesterdays budget as with all of its predecessors was a mixture of clear and simple announcements that are introduced immediately (such as the penny off a pint of beer) and proposals for future policy that will not be enacted until the budget has been debated and any legislation is agreed. The changes to the link between personal pensions and annuities fits into this category, which is why it is not due to come into force immediately. Plenty of time for the inevitable problems to be identified and for any full or partial U turns to take place. I recall numerous times between 1991 and 2002 whilst I was a financial adviser, explaining to people whose need for cash now, was much greater in their eyes than the need for an income into their retirement. At that time only very small funds could be taken in their entirety and the most difficult conversations were with people whose fund was only marginally larger than the minimum (I recall at one time this was £5,000). The real problem in this announcement is the complex interaction between the different sides of the process. According to one report, yesterday £4.4Bn was wiped of the stock market due to falls in the companies involved in the annuity market. This loss will have led to some personal pension funds being compressed as some of them will own shares in the annuity companies. Because of this announcement 2-3 years before its introduction, these companies will potentially see much poorer returns for some time to come, yet the policy has not even been debated, let alone formally introduced. This shows one of the problems of budget announcements that have not been fully thought through and are timed for General Elections, rather than for the long term. This change if enacted will undo a great deal of the work of George Osbornes predecessors, and whilst the policy appears to be about personal freedom, it is also a matter of deregulation, and as we all know, regulations are difficult to get right, and easy to repeal. However it might take several years to see the implications for good or bad of these changes. The one really positive aspect of this announcement is that the evil people who used to create an illegal black market in pensions and created all sorts of misery for the people concerned will have lost at least one of their sources of income.