In the final act of life we must retain our autonomy

As a proponent of assisted dying, I was particularly interested to read his empirically-based conclusion that, albeit in very rare circumstances, some suffering may be inevitable both in palliative care and in assisted dying.

Death is seldom a neat and tidy affair, and the choice between palliative care and assisted dying will probably never be a simple one.

If I were dying in extreme pain and suffering, I would almost certainly choose palliative care in the first instance.

But if even the best palliative care was not enough and I felt my life was not worth living, I would want to have choice over the manner and time of my death.

I believe that legally assisted dying would bring me that choice. I also believe that, at a more subliminal level, just knowing that that choice was available to me would be of enormous reassurance and comfort.

However difficult our final choices may be, they must always be our own choices, and not those of any healthcare professional.

In this respect, Dr MacKellar’s final sentence causes me some unease.

In referring to the clear moral difference between palliative care and assisted dying, he uses the passive voice to distinguish between a life that “is considered” to no longer have any worth or value and a life that “is considered” to have full worth and value.

But considered by whom? By a healthcare professional or by the person whose life it is? I trust Dr MacKellar intends the latter.

The Roman philosopher Marcus Aurelius observed “The act of dying is one of the acts of life”.

In that final act of life we must retain our autonomy.
Iain Stuart, Glasgow

A nonsensical assertion

KEVIN McKenna’s inaccuracies undermine his case against assisted suicide/death (“Objections and outcry put stop to state euthanasia”, November 28). Liam McArthur cannot have “grievously ill-drafted” his Bill on assisted dying because we have yet to see it.

And it is just plain nonsense to claim that those of us in favour of assisted dying do not also want to see “better psychiatric and palliative care” for people who are terminally ill.

The fact is that occasionally some dying people cannot, even with the best will in the world, have their pain, distress and indignity reduced to a tolerable level for them. What right does Mr McKenna, or anyone else, have to deny them an assisted death if that is their considered and settled wish?
Charles Warlow, Emeritus Professor of Medical Neurology, Edinburgh

Privileged position of the church

IN response to the 2021 census result indicating that England and Wales are now minority Christian countries, The Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, has said that believers must now “play our part in making Christ known”.

We sincerely wish him well if this evangelical campaign is to target discerning fellow adults but fear that what he has in mind is further proselytising to the one-quarter of all English primary school children in their charge, the continued enjoyment of tax exemption, and a redoubled deployment of their privileged seats in government.
Neil Barber, Edinburgh Secular Society, Edinburgh

No fringe benefits for traitors

ALISON Rowat’s two-star assessment of the BBC’s The Traitors confirms that she is somewhat underwhelmed by the new prime-time production (“It’s murder on the Scottish castle floor as Claudia tries to take on I’m A Celeb”, November 30).

This is hardly surprising when the "personality" presenter is none other than “I Claudia”, she of the overgrown fringe and overdone eye shadow.

Claudia could perhaps have qualified as one of 20 hapless also-rans in the production but not as the lead persona.

Come on BBC, by all means give aspiring actors a chance but preclude the chancers from taking centre-stage.
Allan C Steele, Giffnock

Mesmerised by spiders' webs

SEEKING solace after the team from ‘the land of my fathers’ was sadly defeated by ‘the other lot’ on Tuesday night, I wondered what would supply peace, beauty and happiness.

Never having watched, attended or listened to football in my entire existence, for the past few days I have read the Herald Sports pages on behalf of my late father and husband and hoped that Wales might succeed.

I have watched the birds in the garden below as they fought and scrapped amongst themselves, a bit like footballers, but that would not do.

I ate one of the delicious Floors Castle mince-pies and, good as they are, that didn’t do the trick either.

I read about the geo-thermal study in the Herald (November 30) and even thought about starting my fifth re-reading of Proust’s Remembrance of Things Past, but that isn’t due for the six-month reading odyssey it takes, until 2026.

Then help did come ... outside my window is a wee wrought-iron balcony which is draped in the mist currently affecting this part of the Border; and when the mist drifts away a bit there are revealed four exquisite spider webs.

What superb engineering skills are revealed; what delicate tracery but obviously powerful construction. I am not thinking about the reason for their construction, just admiring their beauty. So far, no victims have been caught in the webs, so I am happy. Would those Welsh-men in my life have supported England now that Wales has departed? I expect so as they were kind and generous chaps.
Thelma Edwards, Kelso

Four nations, one team ...

CAN somebody explain the logic behind the situation where, before a World Cup match between two nations of the UK, the UK’s national anthem is sung by one team and not the other? Either it is sung when the team is representing the whole of the UK, or each constituent nation should have its own anthem. Perhaps the best way to resolve this is to have a UK national football team.
Iain Maclean, Bearsden

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