Readers' letters: There's nothing to fear from assisted dying

“Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). Too many verses (there are more than 100) in the Bible extol the virtues of suffering. Christian opposition to all forms of analgesics throughout history is well-documented.

Is June Andrews’ mention of dementia in her piece on assisted dying merely confusion or is she deliberately seeking to obfuscate the debate (Scotsman, July 26)?

The underlying principles, however, are the same: that dying people are given the opportunity and means to control the ends of their lives, with safeguards and oversight. That legislators across Scotland and nearby jurisdictions are grasping this nettle should give us encouragement; that legislators in Australia, New Zealand and the US have crafted their own laws must give us reassurance.

Dying people should be given the opportunity and means to control the ends of their lives, says a reader (Picture: stock.adobe.com)

It is not beyond the wit of our own Parliament to listen to the public, agree on a definition and pass legislation that gives dying people a real choice at the end of life.

Doug Clark, Currie, Edinburgh

Slicer and Dicer

What will it take for balance to be taught in schools to enable children to make up their own minds as to what they want to support – or not?

Yet again another wind developer goes into the classroom and invites pupils to name their turbines, this time on Shetland. Obviously naming all 103 would be ludicrous but then so is naming any of them. They are rotating cash machines built with the sole aim of making a lot of money for the companies’ shareholders including global investment companies like BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street etc. They have not been built for energy security, environmental or community reasons. A cynical view perhaps is that by engaging in a way that no adverse impacts of wind turbines are ever allowed into discussions with young and questioning minds is because they are the ones who will be paying for this consumer-funded farce in the future.

Let’s at least be honest and real and name SSE’s turbines with names we can all relate to. Slicer, Dicer, Flicker, Money Spinner, Mr Unreliable, Thumper, Bat Whacker, Green Folly, Subsidy Sam, Windy Gamble and Ice Flinger are just a few suggestions SSE may like to consider.

Lyndsey Ward, Beauly, Highland

Watchdog leashed

A report today on the English health watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has found a lack of clinical expertise among inspectors and a lack of consistency in assessments. Westminster Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said: “I have been stunned by the extent of the failings of the institution that is supposed to identify and act on failings. It’s clear to me CQC is not fit for purpose.”

What similar independent reviews of the Scottish watchdog Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) has the Scottish Government ordered and completed? Or is HIS a freewheeling organisation accountable to no-one but which costs the Scottish people tens of millions of pounds each year?

Douglas J A Adamson (Dr), retired Consultant Clinical Oncologist, Dundee

Stop bin strikes

May I, as someone who lives in and is very proud of Edinburgh, wholeheartedly agree with the points made in Jim Park’s letter of July 26.

It is extremely urgent that this bin strike is averted, for all the reasons stated in the letter, and for the reputation of our beloved city. It was the SNP Government which froze council tax (a vote-grabber which backfired) and left local authorities bereft of funds, so how dare John Swinney say this negotiation is not his responsibility!

If you want to continue making millions each year from our tourist trade, particularly during the Festival, you need to sort this now. Use money that you waste elsewhere.

Elizabeth Towns, Edinburgh

Indefensible policy

I see Lord Walney – aka John Woodcock, former Labour Party MP for Barrow in Furness – wrote in Politicshome last week saying that the Labour government needs to prioritise defence spending over social welfare, citing threats from Russia, China, North Korea and Iran. What is it he thinks these states want from us? Are they going to come and take our food banks? Perhaps they want a couple of decaying nuclear power stations. Maybe they need new trains and have their eyes on the unused HS2. What else have we got?

We heard all the red menace and yellow peril rhetoric decades ago and bought in supplies of weapons of mass destruction that were never needed (anyone who wants to put up the deterrent argument should try to explain why we needed enough to destroy all life on our enemy's land several times over). Let’s not get fooled again.

If our government does not address the social issue of rising poverty and declining health there is not going to be much else left worth defending. Feed the people and heal the sick first then if there is left over cash then you can go off to make some sabres to rattle, Mr Starmer. By the way, before you go any further with your sabre-rattling, set Scotland free of your toxic union; we had enough illegal wars last time there was a Labour government.

Ni Holmes, St Andrews

Poor research

Are we to believe that Rachael Reeves and Sir Keir Starmer made a cast-iron commitment of “no tax increases for working people” without being sure of all the facts to make such a momentous decision?

Stan Hogarth, Strathaven, South Lanarkshire

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