PROFESSOR Allan House is opposed to the Assisted Dying Bill and yet he quotes a case study of a woman with multiple sclerosis who feels like ending her life as an argument against the Assisted Dying Bill ("Assisted Dying Bill is danger to the most vulnerable people", The Herald, October 14).
As multiple sclerosis (MS) is not recognised as a terminal illness I am confused why he should relate a desire to commit suicide by someone who is not terminally ill to the Assisted Dying Bill which would only be available to terminally ill patients who are not expected to live more than six months.
The NHS.UK website states that “most people with MS live into old age although life expectancy, on average, is a few years less than the general population” and I would expect any doctor faced with this patient to discuss why they felt this way and assist them to alleviate their anxiety and the physical symptoms they are experiencing.
It is very unlikely that they would able to determine that the patient was about to die of old age in the next six months and as such would not be in a position ethically to offer assisted dying.
Professor House also repeatedly uses the emotional word "suicide" in relation to the Assisted Dying Bill which distorts the fact that the bill will only shorten the dying process and shorten the excruciating pain experienced by some.
I realise that the Assisted Dying Bill could be open to abuse but I appear to have more confidence in doctors and the safeguards in the bill than Professor House and I would be surprised if any doctor abused the opportunity to assist their terminally ill patients to shorten the painful process of dying where that is the case.
If the MSPs feel unable to make such a historic decision then they should refer it to others who do not have the financial means to take a holiday in Switzerland and hold a referendum.
Iain McIntyre, Sauchie.
Read more letters
It's shameful hospices have to bring out the begging bowl
MSPs looking at assisted dying should remember the Nazi 'mercy deaths'
Folly of landline cuts
I READ with interest a list of 79 places where BT is cutting landlines. Obviously this will extend nationwide eventually.
The blindness and short-sightedness is breath-taking.
Obviously the public is now used to the downgrading and unreliability of UK infrastructure after 40 years of privatisation but this is stupid and dangerous.
I recall some months ago listening to a tech programme on the radio where an "expert" was asked what would happen to us if, for example, the internet failed. His answer: "It won't". Why not? "It can't". It's the '"it can't" part that I found interesting. I got the impression that he was not saying "it can't" because it's an impossibility, but "it can't" was because the idea of it was just too awful.
May I remind readers that we have plenty of recent examples of technology failing on a grand scale.
But imagine when your digital communication goes down and you run to the house of someone you know had a landline (maybe someone who remembers the power cuts of the 1970s), but now they don't have one any more and neither does anyone else.
Maybe you can send a carrier pigeon to call for your ambulance...
Amanda Baker, Edinburgh.
Ditch the George Square proposals
SUSAN McLeod (Letters, October 14) couldn't have expressed it better regarding the flagrant waste of money in destroying the Sauchiehall Street/Cambridge Street area of Glasgow. May I add my relief that the Buchanan Galleries and associated works now appear to be off the board, and only hope too that the George Square development ("Timetable for ‘transformation’ of Glasgow city centre streetscapes", The Herald, October 14) gets kicked into touch, followed by any ridiculous notion of capping over the M8 underpass in front of the Mitchell Library with a glorified grassy knoll.
Why do they think that those projects are justifiable, and where is the money coming/diverted from ?
George Dale, Beith.
• THERE have been a number of letters in The Herald recently criticising the present state of Glasgow city centre and the plans to develop it in the coming years. These criticisms may indeed be valid, but they brought to mind a piece of advice given to me in my first job as a junior engineer on a construction site. Delivered by the chargehand joiner, he advised that only fools and foremen comment on unfinished work.
Bill Stewart, Glasgow.
Tipping point
JB Drummond (Letters, October 14) suggests that 10 per cent is sufficient as a restaurant tip. A better arrangement would be for the restaurant to pay its employees a proper wage, and recover the cost of that from the pricing of their meals.
That way their employees can enter into financial arrangements such as mortgages and credit agreements that demand a regular income. The entire economy benefits when workers have a wage that supports such arrangements.
Malcolm Parkin, Kinross.
Welcome to the club, Ronaldo
THE arrival of Ronaldo in Paisley appears to have got many of the townspeople worked up ("Paisley goes crazy as football royalty comes to town" , The Herald, October 15). Going crazy is not a characteristic for which the douce denizens of Paisley are renowned. However, Cristiano should not get too carried away by the welcome. After all, he joins a select group of those who have visited Paisley, including Robert Burns in 1788, Queen Victoria in 1888 and Lou Costello in 1950.
Having said that, I have no doubt that he made the day for many of the Buddies who attended at the SMiSA Stadium, and in particular for their children.
Ian W Thomson, Lenzie.
Holiday crush
YOUR " Remember when... All was set fair at Fairlie at last" picture (The Herald, October 15) occasions my comment. It portrays a family of six (three adults and two children) enjoying themselves near Fairlie in July 1965. Parked adjacent is the family conveyance: a two-door family saloon (possibly a Ford Anglia).
Safety and sardines conjure in my mind.
Allan C Steele, Giffnock.
Oh, do shut up, ScotRail
I’M on the 07.44 train from Stonehaven to Glasgow, and here at Arbroath, my lugs are already dirlin from the constancy of repeated announcements of “Please mind the gap between the train and the platform" and the tiresome “See it, say it, sorted”, to say nothing of superfluous information on which station this is and what the next one will be.
We poor passengers are thoroughly over-advised.
Time’s long overdue for ScotRail to put a sock in it.
Gordon Casely, Crathes.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel