Assisted death is much more than a party political issue | Letters

Sonia Sodha suggests (“A hasty law is no way to make such a crucial, painful decision as how to die”) that assisted dying is being pushed by No 10 as a party political issue and has not received sufficient parliamentary attention.

As a Liberal Democrat committed to supporting assisted dying, I am essentially free to vote on this issue however I want, without direction from my own party or from Labour. I worked cross-party for seven years and secured one debate in Parliament, spoke in several other debates and participated in fringe meetings at conferences.

In terms of parliamentary scrutiny, the Select Committee on Health spent 14 months conducting a cross-party inquiry looking at every aspect of the issue. It received thousands of submissions and heard hours of testimony from all sides of the debate, including from parts of the world where the laws currently under discussion were implemented years ago.

The final report provides exactly the kind of evidence on which the ongoing debate will be based, and decisions will be made when a bill comes before Parliament.

It confirmed that palliative care is not always sufficient to alleviate suffering. Furthermore, this care often improves after assisted dying legislation is introduced. In Scotland, where a bill by Liberal Democrat Liam McArthur will soon be debated, another bill is being introduced to improve palliative care.

And when the Prime Minister welcomes the debate in Parliament, he is simply recognizing the desire in public opinion to investigate the issue.

I don’t know what I would want to do when faced with a terminal diagnosis and a potentially painful death, but I don’t feel like I have the right to deny others the choice.

Given the opportunity, I know that my colleagues will make a thoughtful and responsible decision after thorough debate.
Christine Jardine, Member of Parliament
Houses of Parliament, London SW1

Lack of confidence in Ofsted

In Anna Fazackerley’s article, the unions argue that Ofsted should not reform itself. Having worked for a local education authority for a number of years, where I had the opportunity to regularly speak to groups of headteachers and ask them about Ofsted, I have to agree. Discussions with these school leaders and education professionals revealed a disregard for Ofsted and a complete lack of confidence in its competence.

It is not just Ofsted’s approach that is to blame, but also its ability to assess the quality of schools. Headteacher Ruth Perry was not upset by the standards at her school, but by Ofsted’s view of them. Of course there should be an inspection system, but wouldn’t that job be better done by a competent board of teachers than the current group of civil servants and people who have left education for various reasons?
Dr. Michael Howard
Norwich

Anorexia is eminently treatable

Further news on evidence that conditions historically understood as mental illnesses have metabolic causes is welcome (“Dietary link to the root cause of bipolar depression”). However, it makes even more frustrating and unacceptable the medical profession’s intransigence in devising anorexia nervosa, a disease with a shockingly high mortality rate, in the same way.

Anorexia continues to be treated as an emotional or psychological deficit, with supposedly reputable media repeating without questioning baseless psychoanalytic speculation that it is “all about control,” a result of poor parenting or an attempt to avoid adulthood. This is despite substantial and long-standing evidence that anorexia and other eating disorders are fundamentally neurobiological in nature.

Until these claims are challenged, people will continue to die in unconscionable numbers from this eminently treatable disease.
Stephanie Godbold
London, SE7

The royal story is wrong

The Ecover article telling us to wash our clothes less quotes the author of a book on the history of washing, repeating the myth that Louis XIV only bathed twice in his life, often reported as three times (” We wash our clothes too often, says eco-washing brand”). This seems highly unlikely: the French king had a large marble bathroom installed at Versailles, with a system that brought in perfumed hot water, where he spent time with his mistress, the Marquise de Montespan.
Pascal Terjan
Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire

Spend, spend, spend

In 1945, shortly after the end of the Second World War, Clement Attlee’s Labor government inherited a “black hole”: a national debt of 250% of GDP. In contrast, Keir Starmer’s £22bn black hole, around 1% of GDP, seems paltry (‘Keir Starmer defends his record’).

The Attlee government responded by investing in bold and visionary ways: creating the NHS; implementing a large-scale slum clearance program; building more than 1 million truly affordable homes; revitalizing universities; providing pensions and welfare to poorer people; and training ex-soldiers as teachers. Government spending stimulated economic activity and debt fell steadily, but uninterrupted, as a percentage of GDP. Starmer must be as brave as Attlee.
David Murray
Wallington, Surrey

Blame schools, not children

Re “’I felt absolutely lost’: the crisis behind the rising number of British children being home-schooled”: is this a case of ‘victim blaming’? If many children do well in primary school but collapse from anxiety in secondary school, perhaps we should look to the schools rather than the children. I enjoyed high school, but I doubt I would have survived if all ages simultaneously entered a large and noisy room every morning, or slogans praising excellence.

As a practical first suggestion, what about giving a gentler environment to the first two years, the pre-teens? A separate time or place for morning access, perhaps also for break and dinner.
Catherine Macdonald
London E3

Add fuel to the fire

Just as Allan McColgan was surprised to read Ann Barrington’s letter about the loss of the winter fuel payment, I was surprised to read his (Letters, last week and September 15). McColgan is a homeowner who can afford vacations; Barrington apparently pays rent because she receives housing benefit (which has been reduced). McColgan writes that only those receiving pension benefits need the winter fuel payment, yet the many retirees in Barrington’s position desperately need the money to stay warm this winter. I’m glad McColgan doesn’t have to look for free fuel to burn, but countless others could resort to doing so.

Child victims of the two-child allowance certainly need the money more than McColgan and possibly more than Barrington. But it should not become an inappropriate battle for the crumbs from the government table; both benefits must be urgently restored for all children and pensioners. This should be financed by increasing the higher income tax rate, which could result in McColgan effectively paying back his fuel payment, while Barrington keeps hers and stays warm.

Angela Smith
Norwich