Would someone please kill this bill?

Calton has to give Margo MacDonald 10/10 for perseverance and 10/10 for bad temper. The former is for introducing another assisted suicide bill and the latter is for her performance on Call Kaye this morning when called upon to defend her bill. The fact that Margo lost the rag with someone who opposes her bill clearly demonstrates what an emotive issue this is, and legislating on the basis of emotions is never a good idea, nor is legislating on the basis of a few tragic but unusual cases. Dr Stephen Hutchison of the Highland Hospice is quite right when he highlights the inconsistency of our government trying its hardest to dissuade people from taking their own life on the one hand and yet, now, discussing a bill which would facilitate suicide. Calton is also worried about the fact that, if the new bill becomes law, there will be lethal doses of drugs floating about the community for up to 14 days if not used by the person who has requested them! What sort of training and assessment is going to be given to the "facilitators" who would collect these drugs from the chemist and, presumably, administer them to the patient since this bill is concerned with those who are unable to commit suicide unaided? Whatever the training, the thought that a certain class of people would be able to administer lethal drugs with legal impunity is chilling. Calton does not want to see Scotland go down this route - hopefully our MSPs will agree and boot out this bill, again.

Put your clothes back on girls

Calton is 100% in agreement with Annie Lennox over the classification of pop videos. It's not about restricting freedom of expression. It's about protecting young children from viewing material which is not suitable for them. Calton has seen primary age girls copying dance routines which they have seen on the TV and, frankly, he did not know where to look. Some of the moves they were making, in all innocence due to their age, were highly sexual and Calton can't help wondering if, in their twisted minds, paedophiles are using such behaviour as justification for their perverted desires. Children are innocent but they do not inhabit an innocent world and exposing them to sexual imagery which they then, very naturally, copy, could be exposing them to even greater danger. Calton also finds it very sad that, instead of getting an education and a job and being valued as a person, which is what girls fifty years ago were encouraged to do, young girls today are being given the message that the way to get ahead is to flaunt your body - having talent is not enough it seems. It is significant that Lennox is in her late 50's and another supporter of her call for pop videos to be rated is Margo MacDonald, who is 70. They grew up in an era when women were starting to be told, and believe, that they were equal to men and both have significant achievements to their credit. What happened that, now, Rihanna and Miley Cyrus are the role models? The farmer who told Rihanna to put her top on had the right idea and so has Sinead O'Connor.

Correction

It seems that Calton was wrong when he said that Margo MacDonald's bills (plural) had some built-in safeguards. Apparently the requirement for an independent psychiatric assessment has been removed in her second attempt to get an assisted suicide bill through the Scottish Parliament. Even more reason to boot it out again.

Unassisted suicide

The Church of Scotland is doing a good job of committing suicide without any assistance as it tears itself apart over, first of all, gay ministers, and now, Margo MacDonald's resuscitated end-of-life bill. Calton has already made his views known concerning the latter. Is it too much to ask that the nation's church stands up and speaks with one voice for the weak and vulnerable, not to mention the 6th commandment? Who will take their place if they abdicate that responsibility? Yet again, the argument for assisted suicide seems to be based on feelings rather than rational thought. Margo has said that this is not a moral issue. Has the word 'moral' been redefined recently? Calton would not be surprised, given that our politicians have decided to redefine 'marriage'. Even the Chambers 21st Century Dictionary is not safe from their Orwellian tendencies.

Do not resuscitate

Please, would someone put a 'do not resuscitate' notice on Margo MacDonald's End of Life Assistance bill. It's only been a year or so since it was killed off and here it is, coming back to life again like something in a bad horror movie. If it really meant assistance at the end of life Calton would be all for it, but since it actually means assistance to kill oneself, and not necessarily at the end of one's life, he is opposed to it. He is just not convinced that
a) enough safeguards can be put in place to prevent abuse
b) it will not adversely impact the provision of good palliative care and
c) it is not the start of a slippery slope to full euthanasia.
It would be nice if the bill were to suffer a sudden death, however it looks like being another long-drawn out process, consuming lots of parliamentary time and effort which would be better spent getting justice for the Farepak victims and harpooning loan sharks. If Margo is a reader of this blog, she obviously isn't taking it to heart!

Wanted - Santa for Farepak victims

Calton thinks it is shocking that, more than 5 years later, those who lost money when the Christmas hamper firm Farepak collapsed are still waiting for compensation. Even more worrying is the fact that it could easily happen again since pre-payment schemes such as Farepak are still not covered by legislation. It strikes Calton that this is the sort of thing that Margo MacDonald should be getting involved in, as it disproportionately affects the poorer members of Scottish society. She would benefit a far greater number of people if she tackled this issue as opposed to spending her time trying again to legalise assisted suicide. Come on Margo - be Santa for the Farepak victims this Christmas!