Just a thought, because as well as being the day most people went back to work, apparently it is the day which sees the highest number of divorces – or so a divorced colleague told me.

The PM chose to start the ball rolling on the most miserable day of the year by talking about effectively guaranteeing the state pension, and introducing a whole new piece of jargon called ‘the triple lock.’

This is the link for the state pension to rise each year either by CPI, 2.5%, or the average increase in earnings.

Taking all the jargon together, the most a pensioner can currently receive from the state is £110.15 a week, assuming they have paid enough National Insurance contributions.

Enough is 30 years’ worth of contributions for a man or woman who has not yet retired, or in the old days 44 years of contributions for men, and 39 for women.

I hate to start the new year in such a negative way, but the Prime Minister does the electorate a disservice by guaranteeing the state pension in its current format.

It is not a huge leap of faith, given demographics,  for future governments to revert to NIC periods of 40 years or more, particularly with the state retirement age moving closer to 70.

The debate should not be about guaranteeing the current format, but about how the nation can lift itself out of increasing retirement poverty.

Over Christmas, a fascinating piece of research came from Prudential, based on ONS statistics looking at the number of pensioners currently renting.

Across England and Wales, it stands at 26%, but in local authorities like Manchester and Liverpool that percentage rises to 50% and 40% respectively.

Clearly, we are a long way from encouraging people to save, or, at least, realise their home is not their retirement fund.

By ‘guaranteeing’ the state pension, the PM is encouraging people to think it will provide them with a decent retirement.

It will not. A sum of £5,700 a year does not offer pensioners much, once the cost of heating and Sky TV is taken out.

The brave and radical thing to do would have been for the PM to start the electioneering by suggesting to voters they make a new year’s resolution and start saving, rather than relying on a pitiful state pension. Happy New Year, and welcome back to another year of grumpiness.

Lawrence Gosling is editorial director of Incisive Media. His views are his own, any comments to him at lawrencegosling1@gmail.com