Now, the lesson to be taken from all of this is that it's nogood leaving it until you're 59 to find out what sort of pension you can expect when you retire.
But a final lesson from this week's votes is that it is no longer any good seeking to impose reform from outside, whether via the commission, the European Central Bank in Frankfurt or preaching by Britain's Tony Blair.
We'll let you decide if this is too distracting or Big Brother-ish, but hopefully we can all agree on this: it's a damn good thing that the Discover Bar contains no ads.