This week's opinion: 4 March 2021

This is the last edition of Taxation under Richard Curtis’s editorship. I asked him to include some reminiscences of his many years with the magazine and these are on page 8. But I also want to add some words of my own. I first knew Richard from my days in practice, when he would occasionally ask me to write an article or contribute to Readers’ Forum. Somehow his charm and gentle persistence always managed to persuade me that I could find the time when in reality I was probably too busy. 

When I came to Taxation he was enormously helpful in bringing me up to speed with the demands of weekly magazine publishing. Until you have been involved it really is difficult to imagine how much goes into ‘feeding the beast’ as we affectionally describe the process of ensuring that we have a balance of features and articles in every issue. Richard’s knowledge of so many areas of the tax system never ceases to amaze me and he always ensured that our content is practical and to the point. We are not an academic journal: we exist to help our readers do their jobs better. If ever I strayed too much towards the theoretical Richard would always steer me, gently but skilfully back towards the real world as it is experienced by tax advisers day in and day out.

Richard leaves the magazine in good shape. We celebrate our centenary in another six years and I am sure that our centenary issue will bear the influence of all the good work that he has done. All of us at Taxation, at Tolley, and, I am sure, in the wider tax community send him our best wishes. I am sure that post lockdown we will find a way of enabling as many people as possible to thank him in person.