Best Of

Great to see the Commons are bringing back an identical Assisted Dying law to that which was passed last term. Good!

Hopefully the Commons passes it, and the Lords can stop dicking around and act like adults and either choose reasonable amendments that the Commons accepts to improve the bill, or the Parliament Act sees it go through unamended since the elected chamber has passed it twice by that point.

It's a Private Mermbers Bill and not part of the Government's Manifesto - the Parliament Act doesn't apply...

Parliament Act has bugger all to do with Government Manifesto's.

Salisbury Convention does not apply. Parliament Act does.

Yep. Parliament Act applies to all 'public bills'. That can be Government or Private.

This is the Bill which gives a central role to psychiatrists whose professional body has said that, while neutral on the principle, they do not support this Bill. And which every other professional organisation looking at it - from every disabled charity to the former head of the NHS, the Chief Coroner, palliative care specialists, those dealing with anorexia, domestic violence and coercive behaviour, the anti-suicide Tsar etc etc - has said they do not support and/or the Bill as drafted is unsafe.

Meanwhile my local hospice has to raise money through plant sales because government won't fund the sector properly. But, hey, it's only grannies like me - as per Henry Marsh - or the poor (as per Lord Falconer) - who'll get bumped off so that important people like him get what they want. So who cares.

There was a time when Labour saw its mission as alleviating poverty not using it as a reason to offer suicide from a health service. They may as well call it the Useless Mouths (Abolition Of) Law.

Roy Hattersley has died.

Not my flavour of politics but did go to an interesting talk by Hattersley at the Hay Festival once on his book on The Devonshires

Saw him at the Edinburgh Book Festival many times, and he was always fascinating, no matter what the topic.

Headteacher at a school I used to work at (also sadly now passed away) started his career in East London in the 70s. Said they had a hustings at the school, which got invaded by the National Front. Claimed Hattersley jumped off the stage and chinned one of them.

Yes Hattersley was certainly a character, on the right of Labour and helped drag it back from the Militant left after the 1983 Labour landslide defeat as Kinnock's Deputy but still a moderate Socialist who was never comfortable with Blair and New Labour and stayed Labour rather than going SDP like Jenkins and Owen and Williams. Was briefly a Cabinet Minister under Callaghan as well and as a Defence Minister under Wilson deployed British troops to Northern Ireland RIP