I have f interests in People’s Pension and the Partnership that holds it. I’m interested in mutuals as they are as a means of distributing value from other people’s money, especially when their are employers so involved. People’s seem to have found a way to look at pensions from the point of view of those disadvantaged by the system , what we nowadays call the “vulnerable” but what in the times of the first Queen Elizabeth they called the “poor Citizens”.
David is clearly someone who has an interest in the gestation of pensions in Britain and I enjoyed reading this piece on LinkedIn.
St Thomas’ hospital now exists by Waterloo bridge. It was the place my child was born and where it was thought I had died this time last year. But it is not the site that David point us to. Here is the context of that plaque! Falafel dispensary.
Here is the 17th century chapel to make the story complete. Health, food and the rudimentary pension backed by a protestant religion that has seen over everything since the sixteenth century.
Finally an etching of what the original St Thomas looked like, (thanks David) , a reminder how deep the mutuality of welfare goes.
David is too polite to make the connection to the mutual he works for and the pension it will provide (once we get them by default). But I will not hold back, looking at the roots of pensions and healthcare in London reminds me of the roots of our welfare – our wealth.