News Archive
Assisted dying debate
This Cheapside Debate took place on 2nd June 2009 :
'To be or not to be - proposals for assisted dying'
Dr Peter Townsend (Dignity in Dying) referred to the case of multiple sclerosis sufferer Debbie Purdey (46) who, just as this debate was taking place, was attending the House of Lords to appeal to a panel of five Law Lords. She faces an 'impossible dilemma' over ending her life sooner if the law is not clarified. Although, said Dr Townsend, the Suicide Act of 1961 meant that it was no longer an offence for someone to take their own life, it is an offence for anyone to assist them. The current alternatives to the suffering terminally ill are to refuse medication, or to withdraw treatment. If there is no treatment to withdraw, suicide is the only option, and only if it can be achieved by the patient's own hand. He pleaded for society's collective moral conscience to end discrimination in the UK against its most vulnerable citizens.
'Truth and Politics' took place on 26th May 2009. These new lunchtime dialogues aim to provoke lively debate between two public personalities on an issue of urgent contemporary concern. There are presented in association with Continuum Publishing.
Jonathan Aitken (former Conservative MP and cabinet minister) began by asking why the global compass seemed to be broken. Was it a result of individual, institutional or corporate failures? In the recent scandle over politicians' expenses, an entire political class has lost its bearings. The parliamentary compass is certainly broken, he said, not just by recent events, but by the fact that politicians have been sinking in the public's estimation for years. In the early 20th centruy, Britain's parliament used to scrutinise legislation, but today that scrutiny is handed over to specialist agencies and so MPs' purpose is marginalised. Debates on bills so often get cut short and adversarial argument lacks the rigour it once had. A people's parliament has been turned into a politicians' parliament. It is important to remember that parliament is not the government: it is there to check up on the government. If there is a fix for our broken compass, it is the search for what truth is; this dialogue is a step towards that answer.
Bible Stories in Cockney Rhyming Slang have been used with great success at St Mary-le-Bow in the last couple of years to help children with special educational needs. Now a book of the same name by Keith Park has been published, price £5.99.
Dr John Wiles (Care Not Killing alliance) explained that his specialism was one of the few in medicine which meant that all his patients end up dying. In his career he had treated around 10,000. There was no doubt, he said, that the current proposal for 'physician-assisted suicide' equalled euthanasia. It was only aimed at a small number of people and he doubted the control would be effective; in other countries that had proved the case. The UK's palliative care was recognised as world-class, so making it available to all was paramount. It is important to protect those in a vulnerable stage of life and to give them encouragement. Many terminally ill people change their minds about assited suicide during palliative care: they need to be allowed to do that. Going to Switzerland doesn't afford them that opportunity.
Inaugural Continuum Author Dialogue
Peter Hitchens (columnist and political journalist, the Mail on Sunday) also examined the current state of politics. People hate spin doctors yet they are still employed to give false impressions. The Conservative party talks about renewal, reform and change, but would govern like the present Labour administration. The real problem is not that politicians are untruthful, he said, but that they set themselves up with unattainable ideals. In today's secular society it is political power that is worshipped; but such power is very limited and highly monitored by the media. If politicians are bound to keep making promises, then they are destined to fail. We have seen a 'messianic' leader arrive in Number 10, be hailed by the press and end in disappointment. The issues of truth and politics are the problems of a nation that has lost its way.
Would you Adam and Eve it?
In the eye of the storm
A political article about the current state of the City of London, published in the Frankfurter Allgemeiner newspaper,
28th March 2009, quotes the
Rector of St Mary-le-Bow.
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