The lies began decades ago, when politicians allowed the myth to spread that the state will provide in retirement.

As we now know, it doesn't, aside from starvation rations.

Britons need around £20,000 a year for a comfortable retirement, but the new state pension pays just £10,600, and then only if you get the full amount

Many on the old basic state pension get a lot, lot, less than that.

Politicians have allowed people to believe that by making National Insurance (NI) contributions, we are building pension rights for the future.

That's arguably the biggest and most enduring lie of all.

There is no ring-fenced pot of gold at the end of the NI rainbow. The state pension is a pay-as-you-go scheme funded by today's taxpayers.

Effectively, the state pension is a £126billion Ponzi scheme. It relies on new investors paying for old ones.

Or as we used to say, robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Higher immigration levels have kept the Ponzi scheme going, by bringing in young workers, but at some point they will get old too.

Politicians have been kicking this can down the road for decades, but the road is now running out.

While I’m busy busting myths, I should point out that the state pension isn't solely funded by NI, but whatever tax revenues the Chancellor of the day can scrape together.

Which makes it even more precarious.

Here’s another myth. Many of us believe we have a right to the state pension, having contributed for years.

Not true.

The DWP insists that the state pension is a benefit and will stay that way. It's paid at the government’s discretion.

Many pensioners hate the idea that they are claiming a benefit, having never claimed any in their lifetime. Also, this puts them in a vulnerable position and they are right to be worried.

Politicians are also working under a false assumption every time they raise the state pension age.

The falsity here is that we can all merrily carry on working to 66, 67, 68, and eventually to 70 and beyond.

The truth is the millions can’t and won’t, because they’ll be too ill.

Some will get struck by heart disease or cancer at a shockingly low age. Others will suffer a myriad of niggles. Stress, addiction, mental illness, dodgy backs.

Drinking, smoking and eating junk food doesn't help. Neither does poverty (and there's a lot of that about these days).

Too many Britons fall seriously ill from their mid-50s, and are forced to scrape by state benefits and the support of loved ones until their state pension finally kicks in.

Assuming they live that long.

As the nation’s life expectancy falls but the state pension rises, many will never receive a penny.

READ MORE: Baby boomers are going bust (and it’ll wipe out your inheritance)

The government has hit on a solution to the state pension problem. Or rather, a sticking plaster.

That's to make us all to work longer and pay more tax, while receiving the state pension for a shrinking number of years.

Just look at how desperate Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is to get the over 50s back to work.

Of course, they won't admit that's the strategy.

Instead, we get murmurings. Think tanks float the unthinkable, like abolishing the state pension altogether.

Ministers plot in private, working out how they can scrap the state pension triple lock, without voters noticing.

Politicians always like to assure us that will be a bright new tomorrow, but the future of the state pension looks very dark indeed.

By the time today's youngsters retire, it may not exist at all.

Politicians need to tell us the truth. The big question is, are we ready to hear it?