[__chrismc]

My heating system's got a proprietary wireless thermostat/control box (I guess what Nest refer to as a "programmer"), but it's a newer combi-boiler, less than 5 years old. The previous heating system had no thermostat, just a timing system. Similarly, my parent's old heating system didn't have a thermostat, and neither did most of the places I rented before buying... so it depends on the age of the system. I could easily believe the "most don't have" claim.

But every radiator I've known to be fitted in the last 20-30 years has had individual valve thermostats.

[makomk]

I think by "programmer" they mean the heating timer that most UK central heating systems have. (Unless they have features they're not advertising, the Nest isn't a full replacement for one - the timers also turn off hot water semi-independently or even totally independently in the case of many newer ones.)