Nobbut Laiking, by Ross Brewster
If I was in any doubt previously my mind is firmly made up now.
It’s been a difficult week to negotiate following the death of a most treasured friend who, for many months, has been physically declining as a result of cancer.
I have no doubt that a law should be changed in this country to allow for assisted dying.
My friend had no doubt. Given the opportunity of a good death she would have taken it.
It was not all bad. The staff at the care home where she spent her final weeks did everything possible to alleviate her pain and, for a long time, she was able to enjoy a host of visitors who never left her without company for a single day.
But the final days were distressing and thankfully she did finally pass away peacefully. She would have willingly taken the assisted death option had it been available to her.
Thank goodness we can talk about cancer and death without the embarrassing nods and winks of the past.
With the support of Dame Esther Rantzen we can see that the terminally ill deserve more than an unendurable death.
I hear the arguments against. I’m sure all sides come from a position of compassion.
However what I have experienced in these recent weeks has left me clear in my support for assisted dying.
Prison system at breaking point
Getting a couple of parking fines these days is likely to cost you more than if you were in court as a serial shoplifter or did a bit of breaking into cars as a sideline.
It is very difficult to get sent to prison. Generally courts will only use it as a last resort with regular offenders or if they are dealing with a particularly bad case.
Yet Government figures suggest our jails are at bursting point. So if we are not sending criminals to prison how come they are so over-crowded?
So full, in fact, that the latest proposal is to free prisoners guilty of low level offending up to 70 days earlier than the end of their sentence.
This will no doubt fill victims of domestic violence and home owners who’ve just had their premises turned over by burglars, or indeed anyone plagued by persistent so-called less serious crimes, full of confidence.
For a start the probation service can’t manage the additional workload, offenders won’t get the support they need, some will be turned out on the streets homeless, and most of all it’s a poorly conceived policy that does a disservice to victims.
Sex offenders and terrorists will remain behind bars. But the pace of these measures to free up space in prisons has been so fast and without adequate warning that no-one can feel easy about where it’s going next.
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk says it’s aimed at low-level offenders and for a limited period. But this is neglect of a crisis that’s been looming over the prison service and criminal justice for many years.
The early release measure, this patchwork policy, has now been extended for a second time since its introduction last October.
As of the 23rd of this month, male prisoners may be freed up to 70 days before the end of their sentence. Hardly worth the bother of some of them turning up at all.
Perhaps the Government could introduce a sort of working from home for criminals scheme where doing a bit of vacuuming or making the beds counts towards time off for good behaviour.
Trouble is, after being tagged to do these household chores some of them will be glad to get back inside.
Snowflakes in another meltdown
Snowflakes in May?
No surprise there. There’s no stopping the great British army of trigger-happy snowflake patrols.
In my youth we had Mary Whitehouse, self-appointed guardian of TV watchers and radio listeners. Mrs Whitehouse could spot an innuendo at 100 paces. And she was red hot on sex. Ahem, let me re-phrase that. Red hot on any veiled reference to that inflammatory three letter word.
Her legacy carries on with present-day snowflakes. How proud Mrs W would have been of the way they brought that shocking exposition of middle-class life in Purley, Terry and June, to heel.
The BBC streaming service Britbox has been urged to issue this most gentle 1970s sit-com with a trigger warning because Terry Melford, actor Terry Scott, had a few shall we say old fashioned views on Africa and allegedly once vacuumed the cat.
There’s enough there for a whole woke conference for the easily distressed and offended.
Trigger warnings? I always thought it was something to do with Roy Rogers’s horse, or that fabulously deadpan funny character in Only Fools and Horses.
Seems not. The domestic bliss in Terry and June, that most harmless comedy about suburban life, didn’t push a message. It was bland, a bit lacking in excitement 50 years ago when the highlight was getting Terry’s boss round to a predictably disastrous dinner party.
If Terry and June carries a trigger warning, what next from the list of dated sit-coms will come under the broad censorship brush of the snowflake patrols?
