Banks have been fluctuating wildly for the last few years, and not all of Alistair Darling's tax plans have paid off. As more workers get stressed out and take early retirement or get fired, the chances of seeing all of the fruits of labour become increasingly diminished.

Meanwhile, 2008 saw a massive pension blunder strike the elderly as it turned out that some members of the nation were overpaid prompting a public debate over how affairs like this should be handled in the future. No. 9 last year went to global warming.