A matter of life, death... and liberty?

Anne Turner RIP but ...

The Bishop of Oxford, the Right Reverend Richard Harries, told the BBC it was not right to always accede to a person's every request.

"We would not accede to the request of a teenager if they asked for help in killing themselves," he said.

"I know that if a person is old and debilitated and worried about the degenerative nature of their disease that is very difficult.

"But I would want to try to convince them that even if they got into a state where they were very dependent and felt very helpless and useless, their life was still precious."

Bishop Harries said many people had found caring for elderly relatives in the last phase of their life difficult, but rewarding.

"There has been a real deepening of a relationship, or things that have gone wrong in the past have been put right," he said.

"Who knows what good things can come out of the last phase of a person's life?"

Fair point Bish, but what strikes me about the whole debate is that the last poll indicated 65 per cent of Britons were in favour of extending the same mercy they show to their pets to their loved ones and I was left wondering: is this really about God or morality or whatever, or is it simply about power - the power of the great and good to say when we can or cannot end our lives and their fear of our liberty to do so?