On 02/06/2021 11:46, JohnP wrote:
Daughter called me to look at immersion heater. The neutral connection had
failed. I trimmed back the cable and re-made the connections - but I felt a
bit un-easy as the terminals seemed quite poor - a post with a nut for N
and a small screw clamp in the thermostat for the +.

Are newer ones any better?

I am wondering if there is a better flexible that the one installed. Any
recommendations?

That's normal as far as I have seen.

I suppose that you could (properly) crimp or solder a ring to the end of
the cable and put a serrated washer above and below. The screwed
terminal for the positive should be fine as long as it is fully tightened.