“This Is Death On Demand” | Danny Kruger on the Cruelty of Assisted Dying

Nov 28, 2024 | There is no ‘safe’ way to legalise assisted dying, warns Conservative MP Danny Kruger on spiked today ahead of Friday’s House of Commons vote. Talking to Fraser Myers, he argues that a so-called right to die would force the NHS to offer ‘death on demand’. For all the talk of the ‘safeguards’ in the proposed bill, the experience of countries like Canada shows that mission creep is inevitable. There, assisted dying is routinely offered to those who don’t ask for it, and as a substitute for proper care. He urges his fellow MPs to reject this dangerous bill.

When a society forgets about God, it starts playing God! This assisted dying bill is as dangerous as it is disgusting.

This interfering, far-left government is so concerned about the health of young people taking up the smoking habit that it intends to ban the sale of cigarettes to young people starting with people born after 2009 because they might — just might! — contract cancer in 50 years’ time, from their enjoyment and pleasure, yet the very same government cares not a jot about killing the sick, the infirm, or the elderly. This insanity beggars belief!

Yet it is easy to explain… We shouldn’t be surprised. It’s all about saving money. In the case of assisted dying, the government saves on the costs of care for the sick and inform; in the case of young people taking up smoking, the government is concerned about the future costs that the NHS will have to pick up if the smoker contracts cancer. Starmer and his henchmen don’t care a damn about YOUR HEALTH or WELL-BEING; rather, they are merely concerned about saving money.

This country is well on its way to Hell! Say NO to assisted dying! – © Mark Alexander

UK’s Longest-serving MPs Issue Joint Plea for Commons to Reject Assisted Dying Bill

THE GUARDIAN: Diane Abbott and the Conservative Sir Edward Leigh, mother and father of the House, say law has been rushed

Britain’s longest-serving MPs, Labour’s Diane Abbott and the Conservative Sir Edward Leigh, have issued a joint call urging the Commons to reject the assisted dying bill, arguing it is being rushed through and puts vulnerable people at risk.

Writing for the Guardian, Abbott and Leigh – the mother and father of the house – said there had been insufficient scrutiny of the law and urged parliament to instead focus on better health and care services.

Four influential new Labour MPs have said they have also decided to oppose the bill amid concerns about the process and the pressure it has put on new parliamentarians.

A landmark vote on legalising assisted dying is due to be held on Friday 29 November. It is a free vote, meaning MPs can decide whether to support or oppose it. In 2015, an assisted dying bill was rejected by 330 votes to 118, but since then a number of other countries have legalised the practice and polls show widespread public support. » | Jessica Elgot and Peter Walker | Wednesday, November 20, 2024

THE GUARDIAN: Assisted dying: what are the ‘slippery slope’ fears in England and Wales?: Lawyers disagree on whether law is likely to be expanded to include people who are not terminally ill »

England and Wales Assisted Dying Bill Formally Launched in House of Commons

THE GUARDIAN: MPs to hold first debate on Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s private member’s bill on 29 November

A bill to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill adults in England and Wales has been formally introduced in the House of Commons, triggering intense discussion over the coming weeks and months on an emotionally charged and controversial issue.

MPs will hold their first debate on Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s private member’s bill on 29 November. They will be given a free vote on the bill, meaning they can vote according to individual conscience.

The text of the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill has not been published, but its title states that it would “allow adults who are terminally ill, subject to safeguards and protections, to request and be provided with assistance to end their own life”.

The bill is expected to propose assisted dying be restricted to mentally competent adults with six months or less to live, although a 12-month prognosis is also a possibility. The details will be published in the coming weeks ahead of the Commons debate. » | Harriet Sherwood | Wednesday, October 16, 2024

UK’s top Catholic bishop urges faithful to lobby MPs to oppose assisted dying: Cardinal Vincent Nichols says proposed bill could change medical duty of care into ‘duty to kill’ »

I suppose that this far-left government wants this bill passed through Parliament in order to help Cruella de Ville fill her £20bn “black hole”! Funny thing, though, that these extremists find it okay for doctors to help people die now, but they are dead nuts against someone smoking even though smoking is likely to take about fifty years to do the job (if it does it at all)!

Starmer is an out and out atheist, apparently. Little wonder he sees nothing wrong with man doing God’s work for Him.

Whilst I see the logic in helping people in terrible pain to bring an end to their suffering, I fear that this bill, however well-intentioned, is fraught with many dangers and open to much abuse, especially by greedy families just waiting for their inheritances. – © Mark Alexander

Baroness Finlay: ‘Labour’s assisted dying bill is dangerous – it could have unintended consequences’: The Lords’ only resident palliative care expert warns Labour’s bill risks a ‘slippery slope’ to coercion by relatives and ‘doctor shopping’ »

Assisted Dying: The Church of England's Complicated History

Nov 29, 2024 | Our religious affairs correspondent and science reporter, Kaya Burgess, takes us through the shocking history of suicide and assisted dying as it relates to the Church of England.

If you or someone you know has been affected by suicide, support and advice can be found with the Samaritans or SANE.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times.


Should this be called “assisted dying” or ‘state-sponsored murder’? – © Mark Alexander

THE TELEGRAPH:

We are political opponents, but we agree: the assisted dying bill should not pass: There are problems here in principle and in detail »

Top UK Brain Surgeon Calls for Urgent Inquiry into Assisted Dying

THE GUARDIAN: Henry Marsh reveals he has advanced prostate cancer and says law ‘insists I must suffer’

Henry Marsh, one of the UK’s leading brain surgeons and a bestselling author, has called for an urgent inquiry into assisted dying after revealing he has advanced prostate cancer.

Marsh, the author of Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery, said dying of cancer could be “a very horrible business” but the law “insists I must suffer”. Politicians had “shown a striking lack of compassion by ducking this issue for too long and are inadvertently guilty of great cruelty”, he said.

His call for an inquiry is backed by more than 50 MPs and peers from different parties, some of whom have previously voted against changing the law. Their letter to Robert Buckland, the justice secretary, argues that the UK has now fallen behind many other countries on the issue of assisted dying.

Last month Spain became the latest European country to approve legislation giving patients with incurable diseases or unbearable conditions the right to choose to end their lives with the assistance of a doctor. » | Harriet Sherwood | Thursday, April 1, 2021

France’s Political Crisis Reveals Deep Rift between the People and Their Politicians

THE GUARDIAN: The likely fall of prime minister François Bayrou exposes a political malaise that is likely to sour French politics well beyond the 2027 presidential election as the far right exploits the moment

As the French government faces likely collapse in a confidence vote on Monday, plunging the eurozone’s second biggest economy and key diplomatic power into a domestic political crisis, Jonathan Denis, a 42-year-old a bank manager and health rights campaigner, was concerned about the terrible impact it will have on France’s dying and terminally ill.

The centrist president Emmanuel Macron had promised assisted dying and improved palliative care would be the biggest social reform of his second term but the bill, which had been scheduled to go before the senate next month, now risks being delayed once more by the unpredictable revolving door of four prime ministers in just over three years.

“Sick people who are suffering and want a form of assisted dying because they can’t cope, will find this catastrophic – if they have the money, they’ll have to travel to Switzerland, if they’re physically able, they’ll go to Belgium or people will violently take their lives, which unfortunately is often the case in France,” Denis said.

Denis’s father, a laboratory technician in rural eastern France with terminal cancer, chose to end his life through illegal, clandestine euthanasia in 2008 – “I was plunged into grief while having to keep the secret about how he died,” Denis said. Now he leads the campaign for assisted dying and palliative care, as president of the Association for the Right to die with dignity. It is a sign of France’s troubled and patchy health service that 20 départements across France don’t even have a dedicated palliative care unit. This has come to symbolise how Macron, despite his diplomatic efforts on the world stage, is facing political deadlock at home.

On Monday, the centrist French prime minister François Bayrou, a 74-year-old tractor-driving southwestern politician who calls himself a consensus-builder, is expected to be ousted in a confidence vote, which will bring down his minority government after only nine months. The previous prime minister, the rightwing former Brexit negotiatior, Michel Barnier, lasted only three months before he too was brought down by parliament last December. » | Angelique Chrisafis in Paris | Sunday, September 7, 2025

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Urges C of E Bishops in Lords to Back Assisted Dying Bill

THE GUARDIAN: Exclusive: George Carey’s position in stark contrast to that of current head of C of E and that of Islam and the Catholic church

George Carey, the former archbishop of Canterbury, has urged Church of England bishops in the House of Lords to back a parliamentary bill on assisted dying, saying that in the past “church leaders have often shamefully resisted change”.

The 26 bishops should “be on the side of those who … want a dignified, compassionate end to their lives”, Lord Carey told the Guardian.

Carey, who retired as leader of the C of E in 2002 and still sits in the Lords, said he would back Kim Leadbeater’s bill to legalise assisted dying “because it is necessary, compassionate and principled”.

He said it was “ironic that I will represent the vast majority of Anglicans who favour change, and the bishops in the House of Lords will not”.

Carey’s position is in stark contrast to that of the current archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, who this week described Leadbeater’s bill as dangerous, saying it could put pressure on people to ask for an assisted death.

Stephen Cottrell, the archbishop of York, also said the state “should not legalise assisted suicide”, saying better resourcing of palliative care was the right response to end-of-life suffering. » | Harriet Sherwood | Friday, October 18, 2024

Related material here and here.

MPs Back Assisted Dying by 23 Votes

THE TELEGRAPH: Assisted dying will be legalised after MPs backed landmark legislation in the House of Commons.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was supported by 314 votes to 291, a majority of 23, as it cleared the Commons, paving the way for assisted dying services to be introduced by the end of the decade.

The legislation will now go to the House of Lords for further scrutiny but the decision by MPs to give the Bill its third reading means it is now almost guaranteed to make it onto the statute book and become law.

The Bill will allow terminally ill adults in England and Wales, with fewer than six months to live, to apply for an assisted death, subject to approval by two doctors and a panel featuring a social worker, senior legal figure and psychiatrist. » | Jack Maidment Politics Live Blog Editor. Genevieve Holl-Allen Political Reporter. Dominic Penna Political Correspondent | Friday, June 20, 2025

I see that our MPs have voted to put God out of one of His jobs! – © Mark Alexander

”Assisted Dying”

MARK ALEXANDER: Assisted dying is a euphemism for euthanasia. Let us be clear about that! So, let us call it exactly what it is.

I know that there are strong arguments in favour of euthanasia, but there are also many strong arguments against it. The harsh reality is that humans have started to play God; and the Anglican Church is strangely silent on this most sensitive of issues.

Our atheist leader — the Führer — is said to be all for it. But then he would be, wouldn’t he, with his belief system, or lack of one? Surely, he will be glad to be able to pass such a bill; the billions saved for the Treasury will quickly start to fill his “black hole”.

These days, most people bundle their old and infirm into care homes, without compunction. Life is easier that way! That they do this is a sad indictment of the über-materialistic times we live in, a sad indictment of modern Western societies.

The West truly has lost its way now. Expect its demise sooner rather than later. This moral void will most certainly be filled, however. We are a post-Christian society now: people have abandoned Christianity. They have abandoned God. But I believe it is true to say that God will not have abandoned them. He will manifest Himself in another way, in another, fast-growing religion in this country: Islam.

We need to think carefully about this step into the unknown, which we appear determined to take.

All Rights Reserved
© Mark Alexander

ADDENDUM:

It should be noted that doctors practise “assisted dying” already. I know this for a fact because my life’s partner was assisted in his passing in Philadelphia in 2016 under my very own eyes. His continued and long-term hospital care became too expensive for his premium health insurance to countenance. So, steps were taken to help him on his way! It was so subtle, even I didn’t realise what was happening until it was too late! – © Mark Alexander

Related video here.

Portuguese Parliament Legalises Euthanasia after Long Battle

THE GUARDIAN: Decision to allow medically assisted dying has divided the deeply Catholic country

The Portuguese parliament, which had previously passed the euthanasia bill four times, only to see it sent back every time for a constitutional review due to opposition from the president.Photograph: Antonio Cotrim/EPA
After a long battle, Portugal passed a law on Friday legalising euthanasia for people in great suffering and with incurable diseases, joining just a handful of countries around the world.

The issue has divided the deeply Catholic country and was strongly opposed by conservative president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, a devout churchgoer.

Under its provisions, people aged over 18 will be allowed to request assistance in dying if they are terminally ill and in intolerable suffering. It will only cover those suffering “lasting” and “unbearable” pain, unless they are deemed not to be mentally fit to make such a decision.

The law will be applicable only to nationals and legal residents and will not extend to foreigners coming into the country to seek assisted dying. » | AFP in Lisbon | Friday, May 12, 2023

Diane Abbott Raises Fears GPs Will Find It Cheaper to Promote Assisted Dying

THE GUARDIAN: MPs says what terminally ill people ‘really’ need is access to hospice care and proper end-of-life care

Diane Abbott has warned it could soon be cheaper for GPs to encourage seriously unwell patients to “sign on the dotted line for assisted suicide” than to find them a place in a hospice.

The senior Labour MP voted against changing the law because she fears vulnerable people will get swept up in the assisted dying route when “actually what they really need is access to hospice care and proper end-of-life care”. » | Aletha Adu | Sunday, December 1, 2024

This is a licence for the state to kill the sick with impunity. As I have already stated in earlier posts, this is state-sanctioned murder by any other name.

This country’s coffers are empty. Further, the National Health System is in a parlous state – it is short of cash, short of equipment, short of nurses, and short of doctors. Its infrastructure is to a large degree also in urgent need of repair.

Exceedingly strapped for cash, resources, and manpower, it is going to be very tempting for the medical profession to help very sick patients along their way to ‘the next life’! I wouldn’t want to trust the medical profession to do its best for me if this awful bill passes. Moreover, with surgeries and clinics looking after their own budgets, there are great incentives for them to save money. The more money clinics can save, the greater the profits!

I understand full well that many people suffer at the end of life, often with agonising pain and discomfort. But I also understand human nature pretty well, too; and how people are tempted by financial gain. The greater the potential financial gain, the greater the temptation to encourage a burdensome family member to take the decision to end his or her life.

I am not at all convinced by the safeguards this government — or any government — will put in place. Safeguards and guardrails can easily be moved.

This country’s ethical standards are beginning to resemble the shifting sands of the desert! This is a sad turn of events. It used to be that God gave life and only God could take it away. But in post-Christian Britain, anything goes. Britain is fast losing its moral anchors. – © Mark Alexander

MPs Will Vote on a New Bill to Introduce Legal Assisted Dying

Oct 4, 2024 | A bill to introduce a legal assisted dying process to Britain will be tabled this month and Sir Keir Starmer has promised to give time for it to become law if MPs vote to back it. | Broadcast on 04/10/24

Playing God in an increasingly godless society! The West really has lost its way! – © Mark Alexander

Assisted Dying Debate: Lord Moore vs Lord Falconer

Oct 18, 2024 | Parliament is set to debate legalising assisted dying, following a bill introduced by MP Kim Leadbeater. The former justice secretary Lord Falconer (who introduced a similar bill to the Lords) and The Spectator’s chairman Lord Moore sat down to debate the idea. Do we all deserve the right to choose? Or, is this the overreach of the state, endangering vulnerable people?

Allow Assisted Suicide for Those with Less Than a Year to Live

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Doctors should be allowed to help terminally ill patients kill themselves – but only if they have less than a year to live, under proposals published in a major report today.

The independent Commission on Assisted Dying, whose members include several prominent peers and medics, wants GPs to be able to prescribe lethal doses of medication for dying people to take themselves.

The report, published today, calls for the “inadequate and incoherent” law against assisted suicide to be scrapped following a series of high profile cases where patients have used the Dignitas suicide clinic to take their own lives.

Although helping someone to die is punishable by up to 14 years’ imprisonment and police still investigate all cases, there have been no prosecutions since landmark guidelines were set out almost two years ago.

The Commission says the situation is “very distressing” for families, “uncertain” for health workers and place a “deeply challenging burden” on police and prosecutors.

Under its plans, doctors would be allowed to prescribe drugs to end the lives of terminally ill patients who have fewer than 12 months to live provided they are judged to have the mental capacity and clear desire to die.

If implemented, it could mean more than 1,000 people a year being helped to die in England and Wales. » | Martin Beckford, Social Affairs Editor | Thursday, January 05, 2012

Lord Falconer Suggests Archbishop of Canterbury’s Stance on Assisted Suicide Lacks Christian Compassion
THE TELEGRAPH: Lord Falconer has suggested that the Archbishop of Canterbury’s stance on assisted suicide lacks Christian compassion.

The former Lord Chancellor claimed Dr Rowan Williams should not want the relatives of terminally ill people to be prosecuted for helping them end their lives.

He called on the Church of England to take part in a wider discussion on assisted dying, even though it has been at the forefront of opposition to possible changes in the law.

Lord Falconer is the latest high-profile legal figure to speak out in the polarised debate over whether anyone who helps a loved one end their suffering should face jail.

His attempt to amend current laws – which make aiding and abetting suicide a crime punishable by up to 14 years behind bars – failed in the House of Lords in July. He wanted to remove the threat of prosecution for people who help relatives travel to “suicide clinics” such as Dignitas in Switzerland, as long as two doctors had certified they were terminally ill and had made their decision rationally. >>> Martin Beckford, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Friday, September 11, 2009

HENCEFORWARD, STATE-SANCTIONED MURDER IS TO BE LEGAL IN THE UK

MARK ALEXANDER: Don’t be fooled by the fact that our monarch is the Supreme Governor of the Anglican Church. It means nothing! His Majesty’s government has just been successful in getting the first stage of the legalisation of state-sanctioned murder through Parliament. So how, pray tell, is his Majesty the King going to be able to justify signing this legislation sanctioning state murder into law? How will this sit with his belief in an Almighty?

When a nation gives God the go-by, this is what happens: playing God becomes a thing; playing God becomes a national sport.

I am sorry to say that this country isn’t just going to the dogs, it has already gone to the dogs!

How can Starmer and his henchmen pretend to worry about young people taking up the smoking habit when they can pass legislation as disgusting this? This is a slippery slope if ever I saw one. How long will it be before someone with a chronic disease will be expected to terminate his/her life because of costs and inconvenience?

I speak as someone who has cared for the sick and infirm in my own family. And I cared for my partner with oral cancer, too. I also experienced my partner dying before my very eyes. It is a traumatic experience, to say the least. So, I do know a thing or two about suffering.

I tell you truthfully: this bill is open to much abuse. This is a dark day for the United Kingdom. We have crossed the Rubicon.

© Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved

Assisted dying set to be legalised after historic vote »

Keith Starmer Axes Winter Fuel Allowance Brings in Assisted Dying and Kisses Farages Ring

Dec 1, 2024

This country has become a joke! A very sick joke! – © Mark Alexander