We should have the option of ending our lives in a way we’ve chosen

Jenny Eclair describes the distressing case of her mother’s dementia and the unbearable effects at the end of her life which have ensued. Ms Eclair states that she would “not want to live like this”.

Unfortunately, she has no choice. In more enlightened countries than ours, she would have the option of ending her suffering at a time and manner of her choosing – perhaps propped up in her own bed listening to Mozart and enjoying a glass of decent claret, before drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

Of course, those of us who would prefer to suffer a drawn-out death with, say, MND, dementia or some ghastly cancer, are perfectly entitled to do so, but their wishes should not be imposed on the rest of us.

David Hooley

Dorchester

I must confess to being amused by all the faux horror over Angela Rayner’s use of “street language” at some Labour Party Conference side show. She is a skilled and experienced politician, and like all politicians, she is playing to the gallery. She chose her language with care to grab attention.

Why should she apologise, she says, when the Johnson government refuses to apologise for any of its failings, which have resulted in the premature deaths of tens of thousands of people in the past year. The word “sorry” is clearly not in their vocabulary.

All in all, she looks pretty good in comparison with the occupant of 10 Downing Street and his fan club.

Bernard Cudd

Morpeth

The juxtaposition of Carolyn Gilmour and Keith Pool’s letters is instructive. Pool seems to place Angela Rayner’s admitted rudeness in describing some Tories as “scum” as more reprehensible than the routine dishonesty of our disgraceful prime minister.

Call me old fashioned, but I’ll take Angela’s bad manners in describing some of the less honourable elements of a once-great Conservative Party, over Boris Johnson’s shameless lies and deceit. He brings shame to our nation, whereas she has merely given way to a momentary display of understandable passion.

W P Moore

Norwich

Further to Mr Wiltshire’s letter today, might I suggest that a lot of our contemporary travails stem from a desire for so-called efficiency? When shall we accept that we cannot be treated as if we were inanimate goods on a production line?

People do not behave in sufficiently predicable ways that are amenable to “efficient” solutions. We are far too complicated to respond to this management babble.

Dr Anthony Ingleton

Sheffield

Katie Edwards makes a good point on how the Bond films represent women in terms of sexuality and inferiority. I feel the whole genre is representative of everything that is wrong in western society, particularly the extreme violence against the anyone judged to be a “baddie” being seen as not just acceptable, but actually enjoyable.

Watching Bond on TV, which I rarely do, I sometimes think that as Bond kills untold numbers of the evil villain’s staff, if this were real, the staff would probably have been on minimum wage and have a family to feed.

We see people going to the cinema in their millions, viewing this violence and outdated attitudes towards women, and presumably really enjoying the fantasy of being able to behave like this themselves.

Jim Foyle

London