Mother ends life at Swiss clinic four years after son’s death
A grieving mother has ended her life at a clinic in Switzerland four years after the death of her only child,Wendy Duffy, 56, a physically healthy woman, died at the Pegasos clinic in Basel after struggling to cope with the death of her 23-year-old son, Marcus,The former care worker, from the West Midlands, had previously attempted to take her own life,The case comes as assisted dying will not become law in England and Wales after proposed legislation, branded “hopelessly flawed” by opponents, ran out of time,Ruedi Habegger, the founder of Pegasos, described Duffy’s death as a “sane suicide”.
He told the Daily Mail: “I can confirm that Wendy Duffy, at her own request, was assisted to die on 24 April and that the procedure was completed without incident and in full compliance with her wishes.“I can also confirm that neither we nor any of the professional staff assessing her mental capacity had any doubt as to her intention, understanding and independence of both thought and action.“In historical terms, at English law, hers was a case of ‘sane suicide’.”Duffy’s son died after choking on a sandwich that became lodged in his windpipe, starving his brain of oxygen.She had told the Daily Mail that she had paid Pegasos £10,000 and her siblings – including four sisters and two brothers – knew that she had applied to the clinic.
She said: “I will call them when I get to Switzerland.It will be a hard call where I’ll say goodbye and thank them.But they will get it.They know.“My life, my choice.
I wish this was available in the UK, then I wouldn’t have to go to Switzerland at all,”Pegasos Swiss Association, a nonprofit organisation, was founded by Habegger, a right-to-die activist, in 2019,The terminally ill adults (end of life) bill, which had been making its way through parliament for the past 18 months, fell on Friday,While the bill had successfully passed two votes in the House of Commons, albeit with a narrower majority on the second occasion, it did not reach a vote in the Lords,The bill had proposed allowing adults in England and Wales with fewer than six months to live to apply for an assisted death, subject to the approval of two doctors and an expert panel.
More than 1,200 amendments to the bill had been suggested in the Lords, with more than 800 of those tabled or sponsored by seven peers.In 2024, a 29-year-old Dutch woman was granted her request for assisted dying on the grounds of unbearable mental suffering.Zoraya ter Beek received the final approval for assisted dying after a three-and-a-half-year process under a law passed in the Netherlands in 2002.
‘Sludge in the system’: myriad problems stymie Labour’s 1.5m new homes pledge
At South and City College in Birmingham, dozens of young people clad in hi-vis vests and hard hats are building mini-walls and plastering half-formed rooms.Some weave in and out of stacks of bricks with wheelbarrows, while others use spirit levels to check the walls are straight and flat. In a few days time, these walls will be demolished and the plastering scraped away, for a new class to come in and try their hands.This is the new generation of Britain’s construction workers, eager to rise to the task of building the 1.5m new homes the government has repeatedly proclaimed will solve the country’s housing crisis
US justice department drops criminal investigation against Jerome Powell
The US Department of Justice is dropping its criminal investigation against the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, clearing the path for Donald Trump’s new nominee for chair to be confirmed.Jeanine Pirro, Trump’s appointed US attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a social media post that she had directed her office to close its investigation into renovations at the Fed headquarters that went over budget.“I have directed my office to close our investigation as the [inspector general’s office] undertakes this inquiry,” Pirro wrote. “Note well, however, that I will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts warrant doing so.”The investigation was first made public in January after Powell released a video announcing he had been subpoenaed by the justice department
UK eases airline penalties as jet fuel shortages threaten flights
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Oil hits highest level since US-Iran ceasefire began, as conflict hurts Gulf crude production – as it happened
The oil price has hit its highest level since the US and Iran agreed a ceasefire more than two weeks ago.Brent crude traded as high as $107.48 a barrel this morning, its highest level since 7 April, the day when the US and Iran agreed to a conditional ceasefire.That deal included a temporary reopening of the strait of Hormuz, after Donald Trump had threatened Iran with widespread destruction.But with the strait still largely blockaged, and oil production in the region having more than halved since the war began (see earlier post), anxiety over the conflict is rising again today
When her ‘soul cat’ died, she was bereft. Now she designs memorial jewelry to help others with pet loss
A layoff and a leap of faith convinced Katie Teixeira she had what it takes to run her own businessIn 2010, Katie Teixeira adopted a kitten found all alone in an abandoned house. The kitten – so tiny she fit in the palm of Teixeira’s hand – needed to be bottle-fed every few hours. For weeks, Teixeira set her alarm for middle-of-the-night feedings and drove home on her lunch break to care for the kitten she named Milo. As the cat grew, so did the connection between them.“We just bonded,” Teixeira says
Retail sales rise in Great Britain after Iran war prompted ‘panic at the pumps’
Motorists stocking up on fuel helped to push up retail sales in Great Britain last month as the Iran war prompted “panic at the pumps” amid rapid rises in petrol and diesel prices.The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the volume of retail sales rose by 0.7% last month, well above analysts’ forecasts of just 0.1%.That rise was driven by a 6
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