Hello, this is the Redbox Podcast. I'm Matt Chauley coming up on today's episode is Wednesdays

or is PMQ's unpacked. Here's Starmer and wishy-sooner going out across the dispatch box.

We pause the action today with Patrick McGuire from Redbox. Don't forget you can get Patrick

in your inbox every morning as a time subscriber. Just go to the Times.co.dk forward slash Redbox

and sign up. Right, that's coming up in just a moment. But first, it's time for this.

The columnists with Alibert, Alex Thompson and Robert Crampton on Times Radio.

But, weren't we playing the Alibert jingle? The funny Robert seems to find it.

I just can't get over it. It's the fish monger analogy.

Robert Crampton is here morning. And that's those out of Thompson's morning.

Morning. So we need to talk about pensions. But don't turn the radio off because this is important.

There was some suggestion yesterday, Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor was going to rush forward

increasing the state pension age from 66 to 68. But now they've decided to delay it.

So it's due to increased to 68 from 2044. They weren't going to bring it forwards to 2037.

But they've now pushed the decision beyond the next election. You follow all that.

I mean, basically, we are all living longer. The state pension was not there for you to live on for years and years and years and years.

But I think the point of this story is that we're not living longer anymore.

That's what's depressing is that actually life expectancy has gone down, not up.

Which is really sad. We've just...

Here's the story in the Times. Ministers are backing away from plans to raise the state pension age faster,

made fears over falling life expectancy. I think that's what's depressing.

It's not the pensions. It's the fact that actually a life expectancy is going down at a time when it should be going up

because medical advances. In most countries in the West it is going up.

...