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Lauren Davidson Executive Money Editor |
Lamenting the hardships of earning over £100,000 runs the risk of evoking tiny violins. As Fiddler on the Roof’s Tevye proclaims when told that money is the world’s curse: “May the Lord smite me with it and may I never recover!”
However, it’s certainly true that a six-figure salary is no longer the guarantee of financial comfort it once was. The milestone has become something of a millstone thanks to a cocktail of perverse laws that mean earning more can actually make you financially worse off, a state-sanctioned disincentive for aspiration.
Not only does the tax-free personal allowance begin to taper, meaning 62p in the pound is lost to income tax and National Insurance, but childcare support worth tens of thousands of pounds a year is also withdrawn. In some cases, it’s not until workers earn £145,000 that they are better off than before they earned six figures.
It’s no longer just the wealthy elite who fall foul of the harshest cliff-edge in the British tax system. A record two million people will fall into the £100,000 “tax trap” this year, a steep rise from 1.2 million five years earlier thanks to frozen tax thresholds.
Don’t take my word for it. See for yourself how far a £100,000 salary stretches with our new choose-your-own-adventure game, which puts you in the position of a “High Earner, Not Rich Yet”. Step into Henry’s shoes, face his tax bill head on and spend his money while trying to stay within budget.
Play the game by clicking here ➤ |
JD Vance boards Air Force Two to fly back to Washington |
The United States and Iran have failed to reach a peace deal. After 21 hours of talks that finally ended just before dawn in Islamabad, JD Vance appeared before the world’s media to say he was going home. The US vice-president said the “bad news” was Tehran had “chosen not to accept” Donald Trump’s “flexible” offer, and he appeared to suggest a key issue was that Iran was refusing to promise it would never develop a nuclear weapon.
Follow the latest updates in our live blog ➤ |
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Jake Wallis Simons For the sake of blowing raspberries at Donald Trump, the chattering classes are ignoring Tehran’s barbarity Continue reading ➤
Zoe Strimpel The trouble and strife with the ‘tradwife’ way of living Continue reading ➤
Janet Daley Stop asking voters what they want, instead tell them what they need Continue reading ➤ |
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McIlroy’s six-shot lead was whittled down to nothing on a barmy day |
Rory McIlroy saw his record six-shot lead wiped out here at the Masters on an utterly bonkers day. American Cam Young has tied McIlroy – who is attempting to become only the fourth champion to retain the Green Jacket – but the Northern Irishman’s madcap 73 has let so many more players crowd into the frame on what could be a classic concluding Sunday.
Continue reading ➤
Oliver Brown: Rory’s greatest enemy on the final day will be himself ➤ |
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The results of the 2026 RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch are in, and it’s not good news for greenfinches. With numbers down 67 per cent since 1979, the species has been devastated by trichomonosis, a disease that spreads quickly among summer bird feeders. Meanwhile, the ever-present, ever-friendly sparrow remains the most sighted species, but which birds are in your garden? Use our tool (and listen to their songs) to find out ➤ |
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Abuse in relationships can be surprisingly hard to spot. While physical abuse leaves visible scars, the effects of emotional and coercive control can seep deep beneath the surface – for example, downplaying bad behaviour or losing your sense of identity. Psychotherapist Dr Sara Kuburic shares the red flags to watch out for. Continue reading ➤ |
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The Belgravia townhouse of Ghislaine Maxwell, which was sold for ‘a steal’ at £1.75m |
Flogging a luxury home is difficult, but what if the owner is Huw Edwards? The price of the disgraced news presenter’s detached house in salubrious Dulwich was recently slashed to £3.85m. It joins a grim market of notoriously problematic properties, alongside Rolf Harris's seemingly unsellable riverside home and Ghislaine Maxwell’s discounted townhouse. From weeding out true-crime voyeurs to legally mandated paranormal disclosures, shifting an infamous address requires one brutal compromise. For subscribers only ➤ |
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Writer Annabel Harrison, pictured with her family, recommends Butlin’s as a ‘no-fly, no-frills British break with non-stop entertainment’ |
More accustomed to boutique hotels than budget breaks, I had long assumed my family was simply not the Butlin’s type, writes Annabel Harrison, Travel Writer. However, could a weekend of wholesome fun amongst the Redcoats, breakfast buffets and big tops convince me that there’s more to this bastion of the British holiday heyday than meets the eye? Continue reading ➤ |
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Samuel West (left) is exploring west Cornwall with Adrian Edmondson in his new Channel 5 series, Sam & Ade Go Birding |
After losing both of his celebrity parents – Prunella Scales and Timothy West – in the last couple of years, actor Samuel West talks to Benji Wilson about how he is adapting to life without them. “I thought I understood what not seeing them ever again meant,” he says, but: “I’d give anything for an hour with them now.” Continue reading ➤ |
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The qualities of England’s towns are not, to put it mildly, universally appreciated, writes Tim Hawkes, Travel Writer. The truth is, whatever their perceived deficiencies, plenty of English towns are full of excellent pubs – most of which are the sort of community-focused places that many assume to be a thing of the past. I’ve selected 10 of my favourite pub towns, spread all across England Continue reading ➤
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Artemis II was a waste of everyone’s time and moneyEvery week, one of our writers takes an unfashionable position, either defending a subject that’s been unfairly maligned or criticising something that most people love.
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Jess Benjamin Head of Digital Features |
“Historic”, “record-breaking”, “a new dawn in space flight”: all descriptions of the recent Artemis II mission to the Moon. In fairness, they aren’t inaccurate – yet, to my mind, it all seems a little over the top.
“But we’re on the Moon!” I hear you cry. Actually, we aren’t. We’re just near the Moon. The Artemis II mission is akin to regaling a crowd with the time you met and befriended David Beckham when actually, you just saw him. At a football match. From a distance.
Aren’t we forgetting that we have done all of this before, 57 years ago? I would have been genuinely impressed by the Apollo 11 flight, the culmination of a decades-long space race and an awe-inspiring feat of science. Now, it’s 2026. Last year alone we launched around 4,510 objects into space. Unmanned space junk is a real problem. The last thing we need is to send more bits and bobs up there.
May I also draw your attention to the website “How many people are in space right now?”, which, at the time of writing this, was 14. Chinese astronaut Zhang Lu has been on board the Shenzhou 21 mission for 160 days now. Artemis II commander Reid Wiseman, meanwhile, was away for 10 days.
Even their anxiety-inducing loss of contact with Earth was for a grand total of… 40 minutes. “It’s so great to hear from Earth again,” Christina Koch, the astronaut, said. Perhaps she’s been speaking to my mother, who shares similar sentiments on a 40-minute “loss of contact”.
Then, there’s the cost. The eye-wateringly large cost. It’s estimated to cost $4.1bn (£3.1bn). A 500g jar of Nutella taken aboard has cost, in terms of the weight to payload, $75,926 (£56,944). Luckily, Trump doesn’t seem to have any wars to fund, or a $39tn (£28.9tn) national debt.
Listen, I know the purported reason for the mission is to test the waters for future deep-space exploration. However, at a time when money is tight and conflicts are raging, it just seems in rather bad taste. Come back to me when we set foot on Mars. Now that would be impressive.
Do you agree with Jess? Send your replies here, and the best of the bunch will feature in a future edition of From the Editor PM, for which you can sign up here.
Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name. |
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“Getting close to animals... is not an art, it’s not a technique, it’s both of those and something else,” said Doug Allan, the Scottish cameraman who captured amazing footage for David Attenborough’s TV shows, writes Andrew M Brown, Obituaries Editor. Allan, who has died aged 74 while trekking in Nepal, was described by Attenborough as “the toughest in the business”.
He had been inspired to learn undersea diving and photography by the work of Jacques Cousteau, and when he first met Attenborough he was with the British Survey diving in icy Antarctic waters. “I want to make natural history films,” he announced. “How do I start?”
Allan at the McMurdo Sound in Antarctica in 2008 |
Allan captured some of the most dramatic footage ever seen, in BBC series including The Blue Planet and Planet Earth. He filmed polar bears chasing beluga whales underwater and leopard seals feeding on emperor penguins in Antarctica. One striking example of predators co-ordinating their attack was the scene of killer whales tracking down seals basking on ice-floes and beating their tails in unison to make waves to tip them into the sea. Allan captured this “wave washing” for Frozen Planet.
An adult male elephant seal roaring, photographed by Allan at Signy Island, Antarctica |
The programmes Doug Allan worked on for the BBC were hailed as justification for the licence fee virtually on their own, and he was showered with awards. Latterly a vocal environmental campaigner, he was appointed OBE in 2024.
Read his obituary in full here ➤ |
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Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including The 1% Club, Cogs, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
Yesterday’s Panagram was DRUNKENLY. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle. |
Thank you for reading. Allister Heath, Sunday Telegraph Editor
P.S. Please share your thoughts on the newsletter here. |
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