Much like the Queen, we're all going to be working a lot longer

The Queen exemplifies a trend that will have a profound economic effect in the future, and needs to be addressed now

The day after the Queen celebrated her 90th birthday, the Obamas came for lunch. Prince Philip, almost five years older than his wife, got behind the wheel of a Range Rover to drive the president and his wife Michelle to the door of Windsor Castle.

What has this got to do with economics? On the face of it, not much. For many, the news coverage to mark the start of Her Majesty's 10th decade was a blessed relief from rising unemployment and the partial nationalisation of the steel industry. Newspapers pushed the debate about the EU referendum on to inside pages in favour of pictures of the Queen as she is now and how she was way back when.