“As a Scotsman I have to congratulate Andy Murray on a fabulous win yesterday at Wimbledon. They say he will make a fortune out of the increased sponsorship this will bring him. I don’t think there will be many in the UK who begrudge him that, this was the one we all wanted him to win.
“As it is 77 years since Fred Perry won the Wimbledon men’s singles in 1936 you would probably have to be in your nineties to remember seeing two British winners. Let us hope, as Andy Murray is still a young man, he will win Wimbledon again, but what is the chance of those of us alive today seeing another British winner if it takes anywhere as near as much time to happen again? Government statistics suggest over a third of children born this year, including the royal baby, are expected to live to be 100.
“Pensions Minister Steve Webb says: “Over the last 87 years, life expectancy has grown by 20 years.” You have to be a bit careful with such statistics however, as infant mortality has fallen dramatically in that time too and that has a big effect on your life expectancy at birth. But we are all on average living a lot longer and the government is raising state pension age. Back in 1926 when Fred Perry was a lad, and only dreaming of winning Wimbledon, there were nine people working for every pensioner compared to only 3 people now. Understandably the government is right to be concerned about the increasing bill for providing a state pension.
“The basic state pension, then known as Old Age Pension, was introduced in the UK in 1909. A pension of 5 shillings per week (25p) was payable to single folk and 7 shillings and 6 pence (37.5p) to married couples. The bill is much larger today, even allowing for inflation.
“I did, however, see an article on the BBC last week which suggested the rate at which life expectancy is going up may be slowing. Entitled: “Where are the missing 90-year-olds?” it said the UK census had discovered far fewer people living into their nineties than had been predicted. The same thing has evidently happened in the United States. So with life expectancy not rising as fast as the statisticians had optimistically predicted (but still rising) the State Pension age in future years may not have to go up as quickly as some feared.
“Will we see another British winner of Wimbledon after Andy Murray has retired from the game? The odds are not looking good. So let’s make the most of celebrating the success of the first Scotsman to win Wimbledon since Harold Mahoney 117 years ago, and the first Briton to do so since Fred Perry in 1936.”
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