Benjamin Post

Junior doctor, anaesthesia and ICM trainee.

[Matt Goodwin @GoodwinMJ]

Astonishing stat from Dr Meirion Thomas:

"The last time the UK trained more doctors than it imported was 2016. Last year, we registered 9,285 UK-trained doctors while importing 17,000 from outside Europe & another 2,400 from across Europe".

Bonkers. Train British kids first.

[William Clouston SDP @WilliamClouston]

A key question is - how much of this money flows overseas in remittances?

[Rupert Lowe MP @RupertLowe10]

I am today launching Restore Britain as a national political party.

Join us.

https://t.co/RMtEuHopgV

[Henry Bolton OBE 🇬🇧 @_HenryBolton]

🚩 This is a massive red flag.

Dropping “His Majesty’s” is not simply aesthetics or style. It’s constitutional vandalism. By removing the “HM” Starmer’s Labour government is trying to remove the habit of accountability. They’re deliberately trying to get you to forget the constitutional authority to govern comes from.

It strips away the constitutional truth that ministers serve, that power is delegated by the Crown, and that the state is not the property of politicians.

This is how an authoritarian mindset alters the narrative: quietly and administratively, and denied at every stage.

Add to this the erosion of trial by jury and it becomes clear this name change is not a one-off issue, but part of a pattern. It’s a grab for self-appointed authority with reduced oversight.

(⬇️ Old logo and name and, below that, the new) @RoyalFamily

[William Clouston SDP @WilliamClouston]

SDP calls for Keir Starmer to resign and for treason to be considered for Mandelson over Epstein files scandal - SDP - The Social Democratic Party https://t.co/unw60pHuE1

[Katie Lam @Katie_Lam_MP]

People often say that we need immigration because without it, the NHS would collapse.

This just is not true.

At the moment, we're not training enough medics in this country - but this is a choice. We do not need to rely on staff from overseas.

The NHS has a deeply unusual setup when it comes to its workforce. The Government sets the rules for who can qualify as a medical professional, decides how many medical training places to offer, and controls the flow of medical graduates into the NHS. It decides how much to charge students, and under what conditions.

And because the NHS is by far the country's main employer of medical professionals, the Government also has effective control over the pay and conditions of those who qualify, and is responsible for deciding where medical trainees go, and when.

So the Health Service isn't subject to the same labour market forces as other organisations. The Government controls both the supply *and* the demand of its own workforce.

In 2025, we had 15,723 British-trained doctors competing for 12,833 NHS training posts. Those British-trained doctors had already been whittled down from the thousands of people who apply to train as doctors every year, of whom only half are accepted. Hundreds of those rejected each year have three A* grades at A Level.

The reason that we don't offer more medical degrees is because, at the moment, the NHS doesn't have enough training places for British-trained doctors.

But at the same time, under the current system, British-trained doctors aren't given priority when it comes to the training places that we *do* have.

So not only were those 15,723 British-trained doctors competing with each other for just 12,833 training places, they were also competing with 25,257 doctors trained overseas.

This is rubbish for those British doctors, and a colossal waste of money for the rest of us, because it costs taxpayers about a quarter of a million pounds to educate each doctor to the point of graduating.

But perhaps this means the NHS gets the very best doctors?

No. In fact, doctors trained overseas are 2.5 times more likely to be referred to the GMC, the regulator responsible for maintaining standards in the medical profession. The GMC hears cases relating to professional misconduct and medical malpractice. Exchanging British-trained doctors for those trained overseas is not always a like-for-like swap.

But here’s the craziest twist of all. The training places we do have are *randomly allocated*.

No priority for British doctors, despite the fact we’ve paid to teach them. And no priority for the best graduates, despite the fact we need their skills.

Top performing students have no choice over where they go, and aren't given priority when allocating new training places. They often have to wait months to find out where they're being posted, and will often receive very little notice before being asked to pick up sticks and relocate to another part of the country.

Last summer, one of my constituents qualified as a doctor. He graduated with one of the very highest marks in the year, in the top three, from one of the most competitive medical schools in the country. He is clearly an outstanding student and will make an incredible doctor. In any sane system he would have been placed immediately, and been able to choose his location and specialism to keep him incentivised and happy within the NHS, and to make the most of his obviously considerable talents.

Instead, because of the mismanagement of places and the lottery system, he wasn’t placed in the first round of allocations. He wasn’t placed in the second round. He wasn’t even placed in the third round, or even the fourth. With less than four weeks to go he still had no placement and no sense of where he would be spending the next few years of his life, including whether he might be able to live close to his partner, another doctor qualifying at the same time as him.

He might not have got a training placement at all.

Fortunately, the Government is looking to change the system, so that British-trained doctors are prioritised for training places. This is a great change. We need to train more medical professionals in this country, including doctors. The Health Service does not need to rely on overseas doctors - there is plenty of talent right here.

But we also need a system which prizes excellence, and provides clarity for medical trainees. The most talented, British-trained graduate doctors should clearly get top priority, and should be able to operate within a system that makes it possible to plan their lives and build a career here.

Both medical trainees and patients would benefit from such a system. The alternative is more talented British doctors going abroad, and more reliance on migration.

[Dutch Rojas @DutchRojas]

The American Medical Association represents less than 15% of American physicians.

They collect $300 million per year by licensing the billing codes the government forces taxpayers to use.

They spent $486 million lobbying since 1998.
During that time, physician practice ownership collapsed from 80% to 12%.

Starting today, we dive into the AMA's history and find out what's really going on.

Can the AMA be reformed?
Do they represent physicians?

Let's find out, shall we...🧵

@BillCassidy @SenBillCassidy @AmerMedicalAssn

[Rupert Lowe MP @RupertLowe10]

Tax. We’ve all become so used to it, we forget how much we’re actually paying. It is relentless, even beyond death. And for what? If we had a semblance of functioning public services, I could maybe stomach it. But we don’t, so what are we actually paying all of this money for?

We are subject to Scandinavian levels of tax for third-world levels of competence - what a toilet deal.

Earn a salary. Income tax, a fifth gone before we’ve even started. National insurance, more on top of that. What for? A ‘world-class’ health service? The NHS? Ha. Good luck.

Even getting to work costs - taxes on buying a car, running a car, insuring a car. Vast amount of road tax. Is that being well spent? Unless you want potholes you can paddle in, the answer is no. A road network built for half the amount of cars. How’s that going? It takes twice as long to get anywhere. Fuel duty and tax on insurance - whack that on top too. Congestion charges, tolls, fines and more. It goes on and on and on.

Forget getting the train, that’ll cost twice as much and never runs on time - a season ticket into London costs thousands. Unaffordable. Yet the trains so often run empty? Maybe that system isn’t working…

VAT on anything that moves - getting taxed to buy products/services, from already taxed money.

Tax, tax, tax, tax, tax, tax. Then more tax.

Did you go to university? Your ‘loan’ isn’t loan, it’s a tax. Interest is so sharp, you’re just paying that off each month. Hundreds gone, to pay for a sociology degree a decade ago. Ouch. Why are we saddling our youngsters with so much debt, with so much interest on top of that? Madness.

Manage to put a few quid away to save? That gets taxed too - ISAs will be under attack in the budget. Profit made on successful investments, what happens? You guessed it. Tax.

Somehow you’ve scrabbled a deposit together for a property. Well done.

Paying half a million quid for a semi-detached? Not cheap. Stamp duty means you get slapped for thousands. Obviously first time buyer exemptions mean less and less as house prices soar.

You’re in the house. Great news. Or so you thought. Council tax. Going up seemingly by 5% every year. Thousands of pounds a year. For what? To collect the bins? Really? Don’t forget the extra costs to have your garden waste removed. Brilliant.

More insurance taxes, and of course VAT on any improvements you want to make. Bills soaring, with tax slapped onto every corner of it - green levies and the rest.

How depressing. Time for a pint.

Alcohol duty. Because of course. Why wouldn’t they throw extra tax on it? I’m not a smoker, but the same applies. Even holidays. Air passenger duty to put a few extra quid onto the price of a trip away. Just for good measure.

You’re limping on through. Maybe you decide that starting your own business is the way to go?

You get it up and running, starting to make a reasonable profit. Take a small salary - to pay for such luxuries as food and heating. As we know, that gets taxed.

Alongside the costs. National Insurance. Business rates. Fees and licences. It is endless.

What’s left after all that? A profit? Surely good news?

Bang. Corporation tax. A big slice gone. After that, we can enjoy a handsome profit. Right?

Nope. Dividend tax. With its brutal thresholds. What slivers you do take get taxed all over again when you want to actually buy something. Obviously.

And the final kick in teeth.

Inheritance tax.

After everything, somehow, you’ve managed to put a reasonable amount of money away. After all that tax, you’ve succeeded in building a financial legacy to pass to your children - your business, and your own savings.

Money you were taxed on the day you earned it, taxed when you saved it, taxed when you invested it, taxed to build your business. It gets taxed one final time. On both your personal savings, and also the value of your company.

Even after death, it continues.

What are we paying all this money for?

Are our schools world-class? Borders secure? Police visible? NHS efficient? Economy thriving? Roads operational?

No. No. No. No. No. No. NOTHING WORKS.

Britain has the highest tax burden in most of our lifetimes, yet the worst services many of us have ever seen. If everything worked perfectly, there could maybe be an argument for such suffocating levels of tax. But it doesn’t, and hasn’t for decades, so there isn’t.

When the taxpayers fail to fund this state monster of inefficiency and unaccountability, what do they do?

QE. Print money. Creating inflation, devaluing our earnings and our savings. Yet one more tax.

The people creating all of this, implementing all of this? £100k plus on the public sector, living in London. Comfortable salary, great pension, no job risk. Clueless about the real world.

Maybe, just maybe, the current approach isn’t working.

We need to urgently cut tax. Shrink government. Reward hard work.

You just can’t tax a nation into prosperity. It never has worked, and it never will work.

LEAVE OUR MONEY ALONE.

[max tempers @maxtempers]

Incredible that all the usually mouthy doctor union chiefs just nodded their heads as this all passed through.

[max tempers @maxtempers]

Combined graph in the FT showing the impact of the abolition of the RLMT in October 2019. No other country would wage war on their own doctors like this. It’s just bizarre. We are facing a mass unemployment crisis for British doctors.

[The Lancet Digital Health @LancetDigitalH]

NEW Research: Harnessing temporal patterns in administrative patient data to predict risk of emergency hospital admission. @FaisalLab @benjamin_post

Read it here: https://t.co/qbED80j3Wy

[Benjamin Post @benjamin_post]

Our new paper:

https://t.co/ynVjbKTttP

[Katharine Birbalsingh @Miss_Snuffy]

My open letter to the Education Secretary ⁦@bphillipsonMP⁩

Many teachers and school leaders share my concerns with regard to her decisions but are scared to say.

If you can find it in you, please RT.

My letter is also here: https://t.co/phAiybAov5

[Sam Ashworth-Hayes @SAshworthHayes]

The USA realising it can brain drain the top 10 per cent of Brits dirt cheap with no assimilation issues would be an actual catastrophe for the UK.

Instant fiscal crisis - this group provides 60% of the income tax take - and loads would go.

[Benjamin Post @benjamin_post]

@Jonathansegal85 I guess some things never change

[Benjamin Post @benjamin_post]

@ByDonkeys Would it have been cheaper to pay the £600, on their behalf, than make this video?

[Konstantin Kisin @KonstantinKisin]

Karl Marx's father didn't like Marxism either.

[Benjamin Post @benjamin_post]

Does anyone know how much I'm allowed to earn before I become morally impure?

[BBC Health News @bbchealth]

Doctors paid £200,000 overtime to tackle NHS backlog https://t.co/teMbjdvP4W

[Will Tanner @Will_Tanner_1]

This is undoubtedly true, but the thing I don't see discussed enough is that doctors and med school aren't so much to blame

Rather, Private Equity is the real culprit for American medicine falling apart

A brief 🧵👇

[Will Tanner @Will_Tanner_1]

Time for a more lighthearted 🧵about a subject I find fun and important:

The Gentleman's Guide to Fall Fashion

Looking good while dressing practically is critical bc it puts our best feet forward; hence why our ancestors dressed sa they did

Here's how to do so in the fall🧵👇