INVESTMENTS (THEORY, PRODUCTS, NEWS) Archives - Financial Planning in Surrey

Have You Found Reasons to be Cheerful?

Dominic Thomas
April 2026 • 3 min read

Have You Found Reasons to be Cheerful?

It was a wet, cold March evening as I parked up in Hammersmith and walked across the bridge to the Apollo. A now familiar route that I enjoy with my wife since the closure of the bridge in 2019. This evening we were to see David Byrne in concert, an evening of songs that in truth, we weren’t that familiar with. A missing older brother meant that our first exposure to Talking Heads was the whacky, off-piste videos from their 1985 album Little Creatures and tunes that quickly became ear-worms like And She Was and Road to Nowhere, which introduced us to earlier songs Once in A Lifetime (1981) and Burning Down The House (1983).

The oddity of David Byrne amused me at the time, but I wasn’t in a place to be intrigued enough by his messages at the time; fun tunes but little else. As I’ve aged, read more and become more engaged with difference as a way of making sense of the world, Byrne has come to be a rather engaging subversive optimist, someone who points to the absurd and causes us to think again.

Optimism is needed by all investors, there is little point in investing in future growth if you don’t really believe in much of a future and at the moment, that sense of optimism is being severely challenged by the lunatics and sycophants in the White House. Our once reliable, thoughtful, intelligent allies have reverted to the very worst of failing school bullies. The Trump administration and the couldn’t-care-less way in which they brutally treat people and the planet is deeply depressing. I wake most days hoping for news of his arrest or end, and within the week he has managed to dig even deeper into the depths of depravity.

So I seek out stories of hope, taking minor actions (reading, discussing, writing and protesting) to counteract the mainstream narratives. To make a stand for decency and our sole inhabitable planet. Some days it is harder to do than others. When I meet with clients, the sentiments expressed are of the same exasperation. I have come to rediscover people like Byrne who provide some respite and relief and of course a genuine sense that most people are actually decent, not complicit in a march towards fascism, but struggling to cope with the overwhelming amount of chaos and stupidity on display not simply in the US, but here in the UK and around the world.

Byrne also gives me hope as he turns 74 in May and whilst having some breaks from public attention, has been relentless in his creativity. Byrne took inspiration from Ian Dury (yes the hit me with your rhythm stick, Dury) title Reasons to Be Cheerful (1979) and founded an organisation of the same name which provides stories from around the world that most people would find hopeful. He attempts to counteract the mainstream narratives of division and hatred, building a sense of togetherness and an appreciation for the beauty of life and our planet. So whilst the media and the US regime probably makes many of us feel both despair and disbelief, there are, thankfully many billions of us who have reasons to be cheerful. As you may have read or heard me say, I encourage clients to “tune out the noise” by which I mean – try not to listen to the news which leans towards pessimism and strife and gets you living in a state of permanent anxiety about the future and your portfolio. We never hear news like “billions wiped ON to the market this week”. Of course we all need to be informed, but I think careful selection of our choice of media is important, and sadly the traditional forms appear to be considerably compromised under any substantive inspection. Indeed, we have witnessed the Trump administration threaten, cancel and mock journalists, actual news stations, comedians and frankly anyone who challenges their lies.

So you may find it helpful to have a look at Byrne’s organisation and perhaps put some music on and dance. He danced and performed on the very large Hammersmith stage for a solid two hours – no small feat for a man of 73.

References:

Reasons to Be Cheerful: https://reasonstobecheerful.world/

David Byrne: https://whoisthesky.davidbyrne.com/

Hammersmith Apollo: https://www.eventimapollo.com/

Talk by Byrne at SXSW2019: https://youtu.be/To50fTfNqn0?si=eSwnGJP4kgarL0IP

What is SXSW? https://sxsw.com/about/

SXSW London: https://www.sxswlondon.com/

Gapminder: https://www.gapminder.org/factfulness/

UK News Fact Check: https://fullfact.org/

Reuters Fact Check service: https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/

UK Government fact check: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/how-content-requests-from-government-get-published/fact-checking-content-on-govuk

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Have You Found Reasons to be Cheerful?Jemima Thomas2026-04-02T10:07:35+01:00

What Am I seeing on my Portfolio X-Ray on the portal?

Dominic Thomas
March 2026 • 3 min read

What Am I seeing on my Portfolio X-Ray on the portal?

One of the features of our secure portal is the ability to see the live valuations of your investments. These are not ‘held’ on our portal, it is merely a secure reporting tool, loaded with data pulled from the original sources (ie investment platforms, such as Fundment, Nucleus, 7IM, Transact and so on).

The portal pulls through current holdings and allocations, but doesn’t do a particularly good job of showing historic ones. You will see previous valuations, which reflect your actual valuations, but not of a fund that you didn’t have say three years ago but do today due to changes we may have made.

When you review this, you will see a combination of holdings and funds. You have a globally diversified portfolio of assets that are either shares in companies around the world or are a form of loan (debt) that a Government or company have issued. In the latter case (Bonds, Gilts and Cash) you lend your money to Governments and Companies on the agreement that they return it at a set date and in the meantime provide a fixed (agreed) level of interest. It’s more sophisticated than this implies, but essentially that’s what is happening underneath. So you hold lots (7,000-30,000) of securities within funds within your portfolio at a very low cost.

Your portfolio is based in part on your responses to loss (nobody likes it, but we all respond differently). In essence how much panic you feel. Unfortunately, whilst I would prefer emotions were removed from investing, they are a default setting on humans, so the attitude to risk questionnaire helps us assess how anxious you get seeing a large fall in value (or a small one). I am not a robot, but the world stock markets are not the place to develop your character. However, clearly part of good financial planning is to set an appropriate level of risk to generate returns that will beat inflation (and keep your spending power favourable) within the context of our conversations and what the money represents to and for you.

This is given more context by how long you are investing (for most clients it’s the remainder of their lifetime) and the level of average annualised returns that you need to achieve to provide the lifestyle and financial security that you require. These are obviously unique to you and your circumstances. The more held in shares the greater the long-term returns, but the greater the volatility (valuation wobbles).

Then there is possibly some short-term opinion on the state of the global economy or your need for cash (or both) which may also temporarily influence our selection.

The portfolio contents changed recently (to reduce costs and further increase diversification). So these funds are the current position not what you actually held three years ago. Secondly we may have taken some steps (with your agreement) to shore things up based on your short-term requirements for capital or income.

We use data and attempt to extract from this the evidence rationale for making decisions. The mix is appropriate and will include underperformers sometimes. You may remember me showing you an image that looks rather like a patchwork quilt of top performing assets or markets in each calendar year – a brightly coloured image. It’s very human to attempt to find patterns, but the pattern is that there is no pattern. Here is a recent one by Dimensional, you don’t need to worry about the small print on this, it’s the concept that is important. Ask me if you want a readable copy.

We combine assets to attempt to deliver a particular long-term return. Think of making something with flour, eggs, salt, sugar etc… different quantities and cooking methods provide anything from a pancake to a souffle (and a whole lot besides).

Not all elements will always ‘win’ or even be positive, but they add to the mix to deliver the required result. Think of it a bit like buying umbrellas for rain along with sunglasses and suntan lotion for sunshine. Markets are cyclical and random. In short we don’t look for the needle in the haystack, we buy the haystack.

Sorry for all the metaphors, but I think they work! To assess historic performance, you are better doing this in your platform portfolio (Fundment etc) or leaving it to us and do something less boring instead… (ok you have to be a certain age to get the Why Don’t You? Reference).

Does that make sense?

You may find this a helpful aid in thinking about your investments:

Solomon’s – Investing in Pictures

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What Am I seeing on my Portfolio X-Ray on the portal?Jemima Thomas2026-03-23T16:37:49+00:00

Would A Film About Investing Help?

Dominic Thomas
March 2026 • 1 min read

Would A Film About Investing Help?

One of the few firms that I believe to have been consistent with their approach to investing and providing evidence-based analysis with decent investor value, is Dimensional Fund Advisers. Founded in 1981, and staffed with Nobel prize winners, they recently surpassed $1 trillion under management. In essence, Dimensional argue that a proper philosophy, process and purpose are everything that a successful investor requires.

They recently produced a ‘film’ which is aired on YouTube called Tune Out The Noise. Now I should caution, that I am biased, Dimensional have formed a key part of my development as both an adviser and owner of a financial planning business. So I will hang my hat on the peg of “this is a company I rate very highly indeed”. They produce some excellent resources for advisers and their clients, many of which I have used over the years. These all help to make investing easier to understand and to help all investors take a long-term approach to “getting rich”.

Dimensional would argue that buying the haystack is a better approach than searching for the needle, however they would look to long-term data trends which reveal that the most successful returns are achieved by those with a tilt towards value, small companies and profitable businesses (the latter which one would have thought of as rather basic, but looking at the accounts of some very large firms, you will observe that profit isn’t always there).

Anyway, if you would like to take advantage of their free to view film, 90 minutes about value for money – here it is.

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Would A Film About Investing Help?Jemima Thomas2026-03-17T13:59:02+00:00

Would you leave the country if there was a 95% tax?

Dominic Thomas
March 2026 • 2 min read

Would You Leave the Country if there was a 95% tax?

I was at an investment conference the other week and a well-known speaker asked the audience of financial advisers to raise a hand if they would leave the country if there was a 95% tax. A lot of hands went up. So presumably, many of them would. Good news for me, an audience that easily self-identifies.

A thoughtful adviser might have paused to wonder, “95% of what?” a better adviser may have thought “at what level of income or assets would the 95% tax rate apply?” an even better adviser may have wondered what was being exchanged or traded for the 95% tax? surely each person should have thought, “leave the UK for where?”. All this really reveals is our biases and inability to think critically – something that I believe is important when helping you plan your future.

Today we live in a knee-jerk-response-driven culture. It’s been brewing for years, from poorly framed questions at sports finals like “how do you feel?” to makeover shows with a big reveal. Reaction is the stimulant and is being increasingly weaponised. Pose a question to a MAGA supporter and watch them implode.

I saw a headline recently that effectively said the King was pocketing millions from unclaimed estates. Naturally, the headline was designed to prompt a reaction.

To clarify – if you die without a Will and with no obvious family to benefit, your estate tax will be effectively 100% (as it all goes to HMRC). That’s right a tax bill of 100%. At least, that’s the way I imagine it would be posed.

Technically what happens to an unclaimed estate is that it reverts to ‘the Crown’ after 30 years of remaining unclaimed. This has an appropriate Latin term – bona vacantia, which has nothing to do with U2 going on holiday but means “ownerless assets”.

Naturally there is a Government department that manages the process of Bona Vacantia … creatively named the Bona Vacantia Department or BVD.

According to the BVD, there are currently (January 2026) around 5,500 unclaimed estates, nearly a third of them in London and Surrey. You would imagine therefore that the estate of anyone who died prior to 1996 would now have reverted to the Crown, in fact there are a few (currently just 18) that remain on “the list”. The current oldest being the estate of William Baker of Eastbourne, Sussex, who died in June 1974. There are 188 estates that in theory are due to revert to the Crown this year (deaths in 1996).

The BVD handle around 30,000 company and estate cases each year, with a further 60,000 or so low value estates handled digitally. This all generates income for the Treasury (about £71m in 2025).

“The List” which is regularly updated can be found online at the BVD, here is the link for you to check if there is an estate that you may be connected to:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/unclaimed-estates-list

There was around £4m in 2024/25 of payments to entitled kin.

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Would you leave the country if there was a 95% tax?Jemima Thomas2026-03-09T09:10:38+00:00

Is Love Ever in the Air?

Dominic Thomas
Feb 2026 • 2 min read

Love is in the air

As you will gather from your inbox, television and general trips to the high street, Valentine’s Day is upon us. I imagine that we all have different responses to this, I have a great deal of sympathy with those who think it’s commercialising love and actually making many people feel entirely left out.

I should probably admit my own biases. I started dating my now wife on Valentine’s Day many years ago (we were at school) and I took her to Paris to propose to her on a Valentine’s Day a few years later. So I’m a sucker for ‘romanticism’! I was a lot younger then and far less experienced (weathered by life). We still celebrate and mark the occasion, but I certainly see the problematic side of commoditising ‘love’.

For me, Valentine’s Day is an anniversary, a reminder of the past and a happy form of accounting. Whilst I am not a fan of nostalgia, I do think it can be helpful to look back and see how far you have come. One of the greater challenges in financial planning is that we are often pointing to the future, the illusive horizon of opportunity, yet it is really important to pause to consider just how much has improved.

Most of you will now have an incredibly low-cost investment portfolio, genuinely designed and shaped around your plans for the future. You can check in to monitor its progress at any time (not a great idea, but you can). It is optimised for tax planning and incredibly well organised. Many will have a far better sense of structure and order having got rid of the deadwood or expensive legacy ‘stuff’ that you once had. You’ve had a proper clean out, a new broom though your finances. It’s a far cry from a collection of dog-eared papers stuffed into files or retained for posterity in their envelopes with nothing seemingly joining up and feeling very random.

Your financial planning now, hopefully feels that it fits you like a good outfit, bespoke to your circumstances and needs. I appreciate that you may not completely remember why an ISA is so good, or what pension rules you are adhering to, the tax and charges saved that you didn’t pay, but you presumably (yes?) trust us to have this under control (and certainly under our responsibility).

It may be a stretch, but might I suggest that your financial planning now holds the imprint of love – your passions, people and dreams. You are living and giving. It’s not simply about you, it’s about you and. Yes that is a deliberate statement, not an unfinished sentence.

“My bounty is as boundless as the sea,

My love as deep; the more I give to thee,

The more I have, for both are infinite.”

Act 2, Scene 2 Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare.

So as we face a world that often seems in desperate need of love; I encourage you to pause to remember how far you have already travelled; you are and have been, taking action to make the world a better place.

Much love.

Oh and here is a lovely scene from Romeo and Juliet (1996) directed 30 years ago by Baz Luhrmann with a few very familiar but much younger fresher faces.

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Is Love Ever in the Air?Jemima Thomas2026-02-25T09:38:23+00:00

Has a line been crossed?

Dominic Thomas
Feb 2023 • 2 min read

Has a line been crossed?

It was over a decade ago that I was at the BFI London film festival and saw a preview of Desierto (2015) by Jonas Cuaron. It was a truly horrifying film about the Mexican border with the US and how various extremely brutal nationalists ‘protect’ their border. At the time, I took this to be a grim story that thankfully was a stretch of the imagination.

A year later Trump was going around the United States calling for a wall to be built and paid for by Mexico. Once elected he began arranging contracts for its construction. It is not a continuous wall and even “Sleepy Joe” Biden agreed to fill in some gaps. Trump, in his second term has issued new contracts for further work.

The sentiment of the film is a hatred and dehumanisation of Mexicans or frankly anyone in opposition. As we have all seen, the brutalism by ICE murdering US citizens and lynching anyone in the wrong place, there is a palpable sense that the film was, if anything ‘mild’. I often hear people say “oh that would never happen here” but then, to be blunt, they didn’t really expect it to happen in the US. Yet here we are.

Investment doesn’t really have borders. Your portfolio is global and holds shares and bonds from companies located all over the world. The investment world is generally carved up into national or regional markets and the North American market (including Canada) is roughly 65% of the entire world market. Whatever you and I may think of it, remember that the companies that build walls, buildings or anything else when contracted to by a Government are invariably enormous and listed on the market. That includes concrete suppliers, bulldozers and so on – so generally Government spending on private company contracts is probably good for your portfolio. This assumes that things go well (we can all recall the PPE Pandemic providers when it seemed you could be a minnow and grab a piece of the £48.1bn of contracts awarded to known political connections, of which around £14.9bn was written off by the Department of Health). The Chancellor Rachel Reeves is determined to get back some of this money, which of course may win her some praise at last.

Reference: HOC statement: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2025-12-09/hcws1144

Trump signs contract to build the wall (25 January 2017) – https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/25/donald-trump-sign-mexico-border-executive-order

Here is the trailer for Desierto (2015) … warning, even the trailer is brutal:

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Has a line been crossed?Jemima Thomas2026-02-16T11:10:12+00:00

In Need of Some Good News? Get on Your Bike

Dominic Thomas
Dec 2025 • 3 min read

In Need of Some Good News? Get on Your Bike…

If you cast your mind back to the Olympics in London 2012 with a lot of medals won by the British cycling team; you may recall that they attributed their success to lots of very small improvements, which resulted in an impressive medals haul. In a similar vein, the Timeline tracker portfolios will have a number of minor adjustments made in January, there are now suitable alternative funds at a lower price than have been used before. This will shave a little off the portfolio costs reducing them to about 0.06%-0.07% which is incredibly good value.

What is not changing is equally important. The risk profile, strategic asset allocation, and underlying market exposures remain unchanged. There is also no change to the style, size or regional characteristics of the portfolios, and therefore the expected behaviour over time is fully preserved.

Improved fund manager diversification

While diversification is primarily driven by the underlying securities, spreading exposure across several high-quality index managers provides added behavioural comfort with no downside to cost or operational efficiency.

Demonstrates best practice and regulatory foresight

The FCA has indicated a growing focus on governance, by ensuring that no single fund dominates the allocation and instead spreading exposure across several reputable managers, Timeline uphold strong governance standards and remain well-positioned for future regulatory developments.

Cost reduction

The revised Tracker weights result in a modest reduction in ongoing charges, particularly within fixed income, as illustrated in the table below.

This will not be applied to General Investment Accounts (GIAs) as these would trigger capital gains, though we shall be seeking to trigger and release some gains in the first three months of 2026 before the tax year ends.

Timeline, who recently scooped a bunch of investment awards, continue to provide one of the most compelling investment solutions and I am very pleased with how things are going. Our next quarterly investment committee meeting is in mid-January and I will be visiting Timeline in late January for further discussions.

We will of course provide all the relevant information that you may want via the platform. If you have any questions, please do get in touch.

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In Need of Some Good News? Get on Your BikeJemima Thomas2025-12-17T14:00:22+00:00

Government’s homebuying fixer-upper

Daniel Liddicott
Nov 2025 • 2 min read

Government’s homebuying fixer-upper

At the beginning of October, the Government announced some significant planned changes to the homebuying process. These reforms also include a focus on digitising the process, rather than relying quite so heavily on sending physical copies of documents and spending countless hours on the phone chasing conveyancing solicitors for updates. For those of you who have been through this painstaking process in the past, the phrase “About time!” might spring to mind.

These changes were announced with the hope that they will reduce the timeframe for completing the purchase of a new home by around four weeks. One of the key proposed differences is the requirement for searches and surveys to be published by sellers and estate agents prior to a property listing being made public.

This would save homebuyers both the time and money required to instruct searches and surveys on their prospective new home. It is also expected that this would lead to fewer property sales falling through as this will enable buyers to be far more informed from the outset. With the surprises that can arise as a result of these searches and surveys, this would appear to be a good way to reduce the number of buyers getting ‘cold feet’ and pulling out due to previously unforeseen problems.

There is also the potential for legally binding contracts to be introduced earlier in the process, to reduce the likelihood of prospective buyers pulling out months after having had their initial offer accepted.

According to an article by Financial Reporter, the mandatory information that would need to be provided under these reforms prior to a property being placed on the market include:

council tax band
EPC rating
property type
legal and transactional information such as title information and seller ID verification
leasehold terms
building safety data
standard searches
property condition assessments tailored to property age and type
service charges
planning consents
flood risk data
chain status
clear floor plans

As for digitisation, more widespread use of digital ID verification and standardised data sharing aim to smooth the journey to completion of purchase, improving transparency and reducing the number of sticking points that so frequently arise under the current system.

This is a promising announcement, and one that feels massively overdue. Better late than never! The government is set to lay out the roadmap for making these changes in the new year. Until then, we must wait to find out how the government plans to deliver this system overhaul.

Let’s hope this reform doesn’t fall through before completion.

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Government’s homebuying fixer-upperJemima Thomas2025-11-04T13:03:23+00:00

Does everything have to cost the earth?

Dominic Thomas
Oct 2025 • 3 min read

Does everything have to cost the earth?

I’ve been advising clients and helping them to invest for their future since 1991 and it was only when I became an Independent Financial Adviser in May 1992 that I could offer anyone ethically screened investment choices. The sector and choices have evolved an awful lot since then resulting in some rather cynical funds launched by investment companies keen to get on the bandwagon rather than actually improve the way we treat each other and the planet. The term “greenwashing” was apt for this as we witnessed misleading marketing imagery (windmills, trees etc) to suggest something that wasn’t always true.

The regulator (another reason why we do need one) rightly stepped up and called time on this practice and have reset the bar for labelling such funds. The approach has, as is often the case, been far from perfect, laborious and probably bureaucratic, but is well intended. However, we are now gradually ‘getting there’ so that both advisers and investors can have greater confidence in what is said and done being aligned.

Unfortunately, despite the data and scientific evidence, a number of politicians and media owners have decided that saving the planet from climate crisis is not a priority and not worth doing (paying for and changing). We have one planet and there isn’t a viable alternative that we can reach.

At a recent socially responsible investment conference, we discussed the current challenges and some solutions, but the stark reality is that the transition that needs to happen within our economies means that we must engage with the ‘villains’ (the polluters and abusers) of the piece. We might term this as a choice between the extractive and exploitative economy versus a solutions economy. We have to counter the narratives with facts and appeal to shared values of protecting our families, homes and countries of the future. Who, after all, doesn’t want clean air and water, and other than a psychopath, who would not want this for everyone.

The investment piece is therefore far from pure or perfect. What many either don’t know (or don’t understand) is that these funds advocate and engage with companies, attempting to induce positive changes in their behaviour. You cannot really do that if you simply exclude, point and shout … much as the idealist in me would wish to. It means engaging with the perpetrator and holding a stake in their business, buying the right to be in the discussion and leading them into a better future.

This is far from easy to accept, it can feel like placating an abuser and it’s something that most activists, who are ultimately the thought leaders at the front of a movement that will eventually benefit all, often struggle to admit. I was at a screening of the documentary by Fiona Cunningham-Reid Ackroyd & Harvey: The Art of Activism and we discussed the contents with her, Dan Harvey and Heather Ackroyd. They have been actively engaged in expressing concern about the environment for their entire adult life, making some truly remarkable art and living out their ethics. They remain hopeful and thankful whilst engaged in the problem and using their creativity to highlight concerns. They don’t stay in their studio preaching, but are actively engaged in the local and global community, using art to focus our engagement.

There was a moment in the discussion where this very issue reared its head – where opinion was divided about engagement and exclusion. Context and purpose are everything and I favour the way they have chosen – not to take the easy money from corporations to help them gain greener credentials (such as the Board of Monsanto wanting a Board member piece in their iconic grass image – this was a hard “no”, but that doesn’t preclude engaging with Monsanto – who we need to change their practices if we are to prevent an agricultural disaster).

This is obviously the more expensive and harder path, whilst the orange felon throws his tantrums and threatens corporations and civilians, it has become harder to resist and easier to capitulate to folly, but whilst it sometimes appears that the ‘bullies’ and dullards are winning, the reality is that the language may have changed, but the processes have not. DEI may not be the term, but companies understand that a fairly employed workforce that represents the real world is one with a future and energy saving ultimately benefits their bottom line. We all want a future and our planet is our only home.

Talk to me to discuss how your financial plan and your portfolio can be based on your values. Investing doesn’t have to cost the earth.

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Does everything have to cost the earth?Jemima Thomas2025-10-28T14:01:30+00:00

The Times They Are A Taxing?

Dominic Thomas
Oct 2025 • 3 min read

The Times They Are A Taxing?

Tax is one of those hot topics that can be fairly divisive along political lines. Few of us relish the idea of paying tax, but nearly everyone loathes the idea of our taxes being wasted on vanity projects or things that seem out of line with our values or needs.

I recently had the pleasure of seeing Nye, a production at the National Theatre about the Welsh Labour MP who was responsible for creating the NHS. Given how many doctors I have met and advised over the years and how committed they are to their work, I was surprised to learn how few doctors in the late 1940s were initially supportive of his plans. I am, probably like you, extremely grateful for the NHS and the treatment and care that I have had over the years. Of course it has many faults and flaws, but like all great things it is a work in progress.

Whilst the play, starring Michael Sheen, has now concluded its sell-out run, it is still available to watch on the excellent streaming service from the National Theatre (very good value at £100 a year).

You may remember the fabulous opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, created by Danny Boyle, a time when being English made me rather proud and flags were welcoming. There was a great segment honouring the NHS with giant beds and dancing doctors and nurses, a real celebration of one of our best institutions.

It took courage, passion and compromise to create the NHS – agreeing to make doctors the highest paid professionals, whilst retaining their independence and ability to work outside the NHS. It also took tax – at a time when Britain and the world was being rebuilt brick by brick, street by street. Rationing hadn’t even ended – not officially ending for another six years after the NHS was born (4 July 1954).

Today the NHS has approaching 1.4m members of staff with a budget approaching £200bn and serving 66 million of us. Most Americans (the sensible ones) recognise just how lucky we are to have our NHS, a medical problem in the US may well see your family bankrupted without sufficient private insurance.

Tax can be used extremely well and it’s clear that different nations have alternative views and approaches. It would seem that the majority of politicians have given up on trying to do difficult things, instead opting for pat answers and deferring decisions (or indecision). The NHS is regularly a political football and the media coverage that it often receives can only leave a discerning mind questioning the motives of billionaire media owners who live abroad (well maybe simply drawing obvious conclusions). In the pandemic we saw the incredible bravery of medics as they tackled an unknown virus without the right equipment, we clapped and thanked and then many forgot.

So I am hereby giving my heartfelt thanks to those of you who work within the NHS, as GPs, Junior Doctors, Consultants, nurses, psychologists, psychotherapists, OTs and managers (I hope I haven’t missed any of you out). Whether you are retired or still fighting the good fight, THANK YOU! My family, friends and I have all benefitted from your collective wisdom, care and the pursuit of good medicine and good science.

So let us remember that our taxes, as painful as they may sometimes be (and I would be the first to suggest that the tax system is desperately broken) are doing tremendous good, every minute of every day. The NHS should not be for sale.

References:

2012 Olympic Ceremony video: https://www.youtube.com/live/4As0e4de-rI?si=VwY32f_03psef0F0

Nye: National Theatre Trailer: https://nye.ntlive.com/trailer/

National Theatre at Home: https://www.ntathome.com/

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The Times They Are A Taxing?Jemima Thomas2025-10-10T15:53:03+01:00

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