Peter Rhodes: The right to die – or a duty to die?
Our daily columnist turns his attentions to plans to relax the ban on assisted suicide, the phone-hacking trial and the importance of cup holders.
MANY newspapers have a column looking back at what was happening, and what they were reporting, 20,30 or 50 years ago. But what if nothing had happened? My wife, researching her family history, turned up a local newspaper from 1920 with a "40 Years Ago" column. But after trawling through the back issues, the hapless hack reported: "There was no outstanding matter in the Advertiser on April 24, 1880." I am reminded of the plaque on my mother-in-law's house: "In 1832 on this spot, nothing happened."
THREE senior law peers say that Lord Falconer's bill to relax the ban on assisted suicide would be a "blank cheque" for euthanasia. But no matter how such a law is framed, how long before the right to die would become a duty to die – and then an obligation to die?
IN ANY case, doesn't it worry you that such a fundamental change in a democracy of 60 million people should be championed by one unelected man? Charlie Falconer's chief claim to fame was being Tony Blair's flatmate in the 1970s. Once Blair became Prime Minister, he made Falconer his first life peer, paving his way to become Solicitor General, Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and a member of the Cabinet. Lord Falconer's private member's bill would allow assisted suicide in "strictly defined circumstances." It is a massive step, potentially affecting millions of members of the public, yet it is being promoted by a peer who has never subjected himself to the ballot box. The Lords may have a role in politics and Falconer may be a fine chap, but if ever there was an issue which should be left to democratically-elected politicians, this is it.
IF YOU can ignore the silly voice, the sillier clothes and the childlike obscenities, Russell Brand occasionally makes a good point. His frustration at the huge gulf between Parliament and the people goes to the heart of a nation losing all appetite for politics and politicians. There is, as Anne Perkins put it in the Guardian this week: "A great hunger for change and a dangerous sense of powerlessness." I wonder how much this discontent is connected to the sheer size of the Establishment these days. The poor voter is supporting a vast assemblage of parish, district, city and county councillors, members of assemblies in Wales, Ulster and Scotland and members of the European Parliament, not to mention 650 MPs at Westminster and more than 800 members of the House of Lords. By way of comparison the United States, with a population five times that of the UK, manages with just 100 senators and 435 members of the House of Representatives. Our Parliament is far too big but it is a magnificently self-serving organisation, and turkeys do not vote for chestnut stuffing. Even if we magically got rid of 200 MPs tomorrow, they'd probably end up in the Lords with a nice little golden handshake and you and me still paying their wages. Powerlessness doesn't begin to describe it.
A DRIVER clocked at 130mph with a steaming mug of tea clamped between his legs told magistrates in Colchester he was surprised his upmarket Mercedes E-Class did not have a cup holder. The magistrates immediately granted him a special status for the next six months which enables him to carry hot drinks any time he wishes: a pedestrian.
"IF ANYONE has been offered sheep in unusual circumstances or for very low prices, please contact the police." Appeal by Pc Adam Taylor after 160 sheep were rustled – near the Dorset village of Wool.
