Peers are just doing their job in scrutinising the assisted dying bill | Letters
Simon Jenkins is right that the Lords should not kill legislation by procedural manoeuvre (Unelected Lords are blocking assisted dying: that’s a democratic outrage).But peers are not playing games with the assisted dying bill; they are finally providing the independent scrutiny it has so far lacked.And the carefully crafted campaign slogans collapse under examination.Rather than addressing suffering, the bill makes no mention of it – let alone requiring, as most assisted dying laws do, that a person be experiencing suffering that cannot otherwise be relieved.And, rather than respecting autonomy, as the Swiss do, under this bill the state – not the individual – decides the circumstances in which ending your life is acceptable, and makes doctors the agents of that judgment.
I’m a doctor who is not opposed to legalising assisted dying.But I cannot support a proposal that would require me to treat a patient saying they want to end their life in a radically different way just because of their life expectancy: more than six months, suicide prevention; six months or less, assessment for a lethal prescription.The real democratic failure lies not in the Lords’ scrutiny but in the private members bill process, which has allowed a single MP – effectively fronting a multimillion‑pound lobbying group and its century‑old model of assisted dying – to advance that anachronistic approach as if it were the only option, blocking consideration of safer, more ethically coherent alternatives.Dr Lucy ThomasPalliative care doctor Simon Jenkins seems to misunderstand the role of the House of Lords.It is not there to pat the Commons on the back and wave through their legislation; its role is to scrutinise bills using the knowledge and expertise of the Lords and provide a second layer of analysis.
Surely this is extremely important when we are talking about actual life and death?The crossbench peer Tanni Grey-Thompson, who herself has tabled amendments, said on X: “The role of the House of Lords is to debate a bill line by line.The Commons by comparison have amendments and votes selected so sometimes chunks of a bill are not debated.”She and other peers are discussing evidence from the disabled groups, psychiatrists, eating disorder specialists and others whose views were either not selected to be heard in the Commons – where the majority of the committee held pro-assisted dying views – or ignored.Mr Jenkins may lambast the Lords, but many of us say thank goodness for them.Penelope JenkinsKenilworth, Warwickshire I often disagree with Simon Jenkins, but not this time.
Seven lords a-leaping do indeed appear to be blocking, not scrutinising, the assisted dying bill.I am one of very many in favour of being granted the right to choose my death at the end of life.It seems that some in the Lords are trying to argue that until palliative care is available to all, assisted dying should not be an option.This is absurd.Assisted dying and palliative care are not in opposition.
Both are necessary and desirable.What is on offer in the bill is actually very limited.The real fear is that access to assisted dying will be so hedged about with permissions from doctors and judges that it will be available only to a few better-off and well-connected members of the middle and upper classes.Margaret Pelling Oxford Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
AFLW clubs’ lack of ambition laid bare by 2025 grand final deja vu | Jack Snape
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Geraint Thomas lands new Ineos role as struggling team make major reshuffle
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The Super Bowl Shuffle at 40: how a goofy rap classic boosted the Bears’ title run
A new documentary charts how a song that featured a 335lb rapper and bad dancing went viral in the pre-internet era The Chicago Bears are 8-3 and soaring in this season’s NFL standings. For a fanbase that’s grown accustomed to looking up at the division rival Green Bay Packers and looking ahead to the next season’s prospects, it’s reason to smell the roses and indulge in some light strutting. But even as fans find themselves looking forward to the Bears’ first playoff berth in five years, something that once seemed unthinkable with a second-year quarterback and a rookie head coaching helming a squad that managed only five wins last year, no fan is thinking the 2025 Bears have a Super Bowl run in them – not without a rap song to lay the marker down.Before the 1985 edition of the Bears romped to victory in Super Bowl XX, they tempted fate by recording The Super Bowl Shuffle. Although the song only peaked at 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, the accompanying video came to rival Michael Jackson’s Thriller for popularity as it popped up endlessly on TV during the Bears’ title run
England plan extra training sessions in wake of howling first Ashes Test defeat
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Molly McCann: ‘I’m a scouse female gay athlete who supports Everton – it’s like my cards are marked already’
Britain’s most successful female UFC fighter on knowing when to stand her ground, why she won’t box in Saudi Arabia and aiming to win a world title in the next year“I give my hidings and I take my hidings and so they have seen me with snapped ligaments in my knee, broken feet, broken toes, broken hands, stitches, broken legs,” Molly McCann says of the damage she has endured as a fighter and the impact it has had on her mum and her partner, Fran Parman. “It’s traumatic for Fran and even more traumatic for my mum. I’m 35 and I’ve been in the gym since I was 12. I had my first fight at 16. I’ve spent most of my life fighting
Players warned not to sign IPL-style Hundred deals in standoff with owners
The Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) has advised players not to sign Hundred contracts for next season amid a dispute with the new franchise owners over their terms.In a supplementary process to the new Indian Premier League-style auction that will take place next year, Hundred teams are permitted to make four direct signings, including one from their existing squad and three others, either overseas players or a player with an England central contract.The direct-signing window opened last week, but the players’ union is understood to have told its members to hold off signing because of a standoff over the new multiyear contracts.The Guardian has learned that the new franchise owners – four of whom also own Indian Premier League teams – have included a unilateral 12-month release clause in the three-year deals they are offering to direct signings, which the PCA is contesting. Such contracts would offer no security to the players, as well as keeping them on the same salary for three years even if they enjoyed a stellar first season
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