There are some unenviable jobs around at the moment: UK Chancellor of the Exchequer; BP chief executive; England football manager. But at least they have a starting point to work out a way forward. Lord Hutton, who has been brought in to review the UK's public sector pensions, seems to be without even that luxury.

The Department for Work and Pensions announced yesterday that John Hutton, former Secretary of State for the unit under Tony Blair's Labour government, had been mandated to examine the UK's public sector pension problem.