Letters: The assisted dying bill could lead to a point of no return

How long would it take a judge to come to a firm conclusion one way or the other when he or she will have to rigorously question the relevant relatives and the patient over this matter?

There have been many well-documented cases where doctors have given their educated guesses about how long a terminally ill patient is likely to survive, only to be proved wrong. Many patients have exceeded the predicted length of time by a long shot. Is it likely that one professional will contradict a colleague over such a prognosis?

Once such a procedure is legalised, normalisation will settle in to become an expectation whereby eligible patients will be offered the option of that procedure.

It will bed itself in as the duty to die – an indirect version of coercion. 

There is no-one who can safely say that strict safeguards will never slip to widen the scope of such a law.

Pressure groups will no doubt campaign to provide groups excluded under the terms of the original Act with the opportunity of enjoying that option. Dilution of the safeguards will be inevitable.

Will the cost of observing such procedures and their execution fall upon the NHS and in hospital settings? How ironic that that will turn out to be within medical facilities which aim to care and cure.

There would surely have to be a hospital wing dedicated to a ward housing patients awaiting this irrevocable procedure.

Also needed would be a fairly large room where relatives and friends can be present to see their relative and friend off at the crucial moment.

That thin end of the wedge could so easily become a steep and slippery slope in that point of no return.
Denis Bruce, Bishopbriggs.

Celebrate the positivity of life​
THE issue of assisted dying appears to be a much publicised current issue. Conversely, on the subject of assisted living, I must express my sincere gratitude to our NHS and in particular my renal and district nurses.

Over the past year I have been housebound and benefited from that sterling service. Let us celebrate the positivity of life as inevitably journey’s end beckons.
Allan C Steele, Giffnock.

Macbeth: the myth and the facts
MACBETH was a competent monarch who suffered badly at the hands of William Shakespeare, and Neil Mackay (Unspun: “Swinney must beware the ruthless ambition of his Westminster chief”, November 16) is by no means the first to castigate the poor man.

It’s a sad fact that King Macbeth’s PR machine has gone to so badly wrong that the picture still exists today of a quarrelsome violent sovereign.

Born 1019 years ago, Macbeth came of the line of King Kenneth MacAlpin. A brief pen-portrait in an unnamed Irish annal states: “…..ruddy-complexioned, yellow haired tall one in whom I shall rejoice”.

The same source describes him as the “generous king of Fortriu” (Pictland).  So emerges a tall healthy-looking fair-haired man of noble spirit, with a name may be translated as Son of Life.

Stephen Flynn – the SNP’s Macbeth, a man of ambition unfit to lead

Myth and Macbeth started early, long before the Bard of Avon ever penned a line. By 1527, Hector Boece in his Latin History of Scotland narrates an account of Macbeth and Banquo meeting witches, that he was a murderer who met his denouément at Dunsinane. Similarly Lady Macbeth – in reality Queen Gruoch, granddaughter of Kenneth III (killed in 1005) – was neither a sleepwalker nor a murderess.

Macbeth’s involvement in murdering King Duncan I in 1040 can be viewed a good move, for Duncan’s rule in Scotland was not the golden age portrayed by Shakespeare.

In contrast to Duncan’s reign, Macbeth’s 17-year rule of Scotland between 1040-1057 was characterised by peace and tranquillity, a period in which north and south Scotland became united, and a semblance of order appeared across the land.

He was generous to the church, and with his ally Thorfinn, went on a pilgrimage to Rome in 1050, where his benevolence extended to “scattering alms like seed corn”. 

It says something for both Macbeth’s self-confidence and the state of the nation he left behind that he felt secure enough to be away from home for such a long journey. On his return, he ruled for another seven years, a remarkable achievement for the time.

However elusive Macbeth’s reputation remains, the fact that this king was borne to hallowed ground on Iona and interred there speaks to his character. The honour confirms that he was no mere usurper, but had royally earned the respect of friends and enemies alike.
Gordon Casely, Crathes, Kincardineshire.

* WHAT a delicious piece by Neil Mackay on the awful Stephen Flynn, and the parallels with Macbeth. Vaulting ambition, indeed.

Much as I enjoyed Mackay’s piece, I enjoyed even more his judicious use of language, proving once and for all that a grounding in culture is important, and that Shakespeare’s words from 400 years ago never lose their relevance.   Thank you, Neil. 
Michael Dale, Glasgow. 

Troops were in Glasgow in 1919
EVEN a cursory glance at the newspapers of the day would show Michael Sheridan (letters, November 15) that military troops were indeed deployed in Glasgow in response to the large-scale workers’ protests in George Square of Friday, January 31, 1919.

Limiting oneself to the Daily Record and Mail, for example, one finds picture features on February 4 and 5 of troops around the city “guarding” strategic sites. The first article is headed “Some Incidents in the Military Occupation of Glasgow”; the second uses the term “Occupied City”.  On February13 it reports that 30,000 troops had been mobilised, and on the 15th that these were now largely withdrawn. 
Donald Gillies, Glasgow.

Glastonbury stampede
ALL 200,000 tickets for Glastonbury 2025 were sold out in less than 40 minutes, despite costing £373 (and with no-one actually knowing who will be playing there). Cost-of-living crisis? What cost-of-living crisis? 
S Kerr, Glasgow.