I will confess to some satisfaction that my audience of well over 100 young people was more than twice the number that listened to the UKIP leader – beat that, Esther!

St Albans School pupils have never been shy at voicing opinions – this is the third time in recent years that I have spoken there, and I also used to have fairly regular sessions there in the 1980s when I was a governor.

Questions were thrown at me about the economy, the merits of hung or balanced parliaments, our membership of the European Union of course, tuition fees.

What was most interesting to me was the debate round creating a fairer tax system, and in particular the equalisation of tax relief for pensions.  They could not see why their parents (at least most of them I presume) should “pay more”, I said it’s not about paying more, it’s about making it fair between  high income earners and the person cleaning the room (or equivalent) after school finishes.

Higher rate tax payers were given 65% of the £28bn granted in pension tax relief in 2008-09, though they make up just 19% of pension savers.

And the very highest earners, the 1% of adults whose income is over £150,000 a year, gained 25% of all pension tax relief, worth an average of £20,000 a year to each of them.

If no tax relief was given to anyone, that would put £28 billion back into public coffers – so we are talking big money here.  Of course no-one is suggesting that tax relief should be ended in that way, it’s too important that we encourage people to save for their retirement.

But it seems fair and even-handed to me that Sir Richard Branson and his ilk should get no larger a percentage relief on each pound that he saves for retirement than the person cleaning the school lecture theatre .  The same for the rich as for those on modest incomes – just like our proposal to raise both Sir Richard’s and the school cleaner’s basic tax allowance to £10,000.  What could be fairer than that?

Anyway I hope I left the St Albans students with something to think about.

I admit that I myself have pension policies with Equitable Life which were slashed in value – but I was lucky to have diversified pension investments. Many others were not so lucky.

They worked and saved for a reasonable retirement in what was held out to be a reliable company and then found that the cupboard was metaphorically bare.

It is perfectly clear that Government regulators could have stepped in much earlier to blow the whistle. Sadly there are a whole lot of weasel words in the government statement. There will only be ‘partial’ compensation for victims who have suffered ‘disproportionately’. We do not yet know the detail. It is all subject to the ‘position of the public finances.’ And of course every month of delay will see more policyholders die before they can receive whatever compensation is due.

It really is amazing how bankers are bailed by this government, money no object and no questions asked, yet how grudgingly the really deserving get to be compensated, and only after huge pressure. But this looks like a step forward, and it is a welcome change to hear a minister say ‘Sorry’.