From the category archives:

Euthanasia-Assisted Suicide.

Mercy Killing?

February 1, 2010

The past week has seen one mother, Frances Inglis, jailed for life for murdering a son who was in a persistent vegetative state, and another mother, Kay Gilderdale, acquitted of the attempted murder of her daughter, whose suicide she assisted.
The BBC has seen fit to mark these sad events by a ‘poll‘ – ‘vote now [...]

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Life and Death.

January 7, 2010

In the era of what we are told is the revolution in journalism - blogging – this becomes what we call, “a story“.
Nick Robinson 6th January 2009.
Nick Robinson’s disparaging gibe at the blogging world yesterday exposed the chasm which lies between ‘us’ and ‘them’.
We define a story as something we are passionately interested in; [...]

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For Whom the Bell Tolls.

October 12, 2009

Back in Victorian times, death was never far from people’s thoughts thanks to the diseases and poor medicine of those times. You can see evidence of this in old sepia photos of sombre matronly women (including Queen Victoria herself) posing in their widow’s weeds.
Back in those days the grim reaper was rushed off his feet, [...]

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Suicide – the uneasy option.

September 4, 2009

In June this year The Sunday Times reported the death of Cari Loder who, rendered housebound by the progression of her Multiple Sclerosis and fearing that she would be sent to a care home, took her own life using a method she had researched via the internet. She put a hood over her [...]

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The Gold Standard for an Obscene Death.

September 3, 2009

There is a sense in which publication of this letter in the Daily Telegraph was as inevitable as death itself.
I have been waiting for it, or something like it, to appear since last October when the full function of The Mental Capacity Act 2005 came into operation.
None of us want to think of death, none [...]

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Parliament and My Little Pussy………

July 9, 2009

Nick Palmer, Labour MP for Broxtowe, and long time supporter of animal rights, yesterday took time out from worrying about the economic chaos facing the UK to fret about my poor little pussy.
Being elderly myself, this is an issue that affects me, but I assure you that my pussy is the least of my problems [...]

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Life or Death?

March 21, 2009

This building may look remarkably like a great cathedral, but there is no God inside, just a High Court Judge.
Today, a couple known only as Mr and Mrs T, are planning to spend their final hours enjoying the company of their baby son. Last night they lost a final legal bid to [...]

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