Freeze all the factors and let’s bring it down to one point with this OROP (One Rank One Pension) issue.

When will it be implemented?

I fully concede that I am not the sharpest knife in the kitchen. So I want someone out there to educate me on this single aspect of the OROP announcement and its much heralded historic texture.

When will the first war widow get the first check?

When will the oldest wounded soldier who was boarded out receive the new pension?

If you flip that disc what is the period when the widow and the retired soldier, sailor, airman will NOT get the financial upgrade.

Will they have to wait till the ‘minor’ details are sorted out?

Is it predicated to the single judge and his six month window to examine the OROP issue and the open ended discussions that could ensue when the report is ultimately ready.

Will it be as early as next month?

Next year?

After five years when the first review is due and the present government may or may not be in power.

I have trawled the TV channels, tried to pry an answer out of the vets themselves, read up the media reports but no one has said a word about when.

The label of ‘implementation’ has been used with a gay abandon and I am all for it.

All I want to know is when?

After all, if we want to implement something the other party wants the timeline.

And until that is offered the rest is only smoke and mirrors.