Esther Rantzen is right, our pets DO die with more dignity than people but her worthwhile campaign might change that
DOGS get to die with greater dignity than some terminally ill people, says Dame Esther Rantzen.
She’s right.
Last September, it became clear that our beloved Tibetan Terrier Jasper was nearing the end of his life.
He was covered in tumours, struggling to walk and had lost interest in eating and drinking.
So I booked an at-home euthanasia service and he was put to sleep in his own bed surrounded by those who loved him.
It was peaceful and pain-free.
Compare and contrast this with the prolonged and agonising death suffered by someone ravaged by a terminal illness that forces their body to slowly shut down.
There will be no miracle cure, only the cruelty of progressive debilitation and prolonged pain.
Why can’t they have access to the same dignified death I chose for my dog?
On Monday, MPs spent three hours debating the pros and cons of assisted dying after more than 200,000 people signed an online petition to back a change in the law, and opinion polls suggest that around 75 per cent of us agree.
After all, it’s a choice currently available to anyone who can afford the thousands needed to end your own life at Swiss clinic Dignitas, so why not here without the hefty price tag?
Tory MP David Davis noted that while a constituent’s father had a “beautiful death” at Dignitas, his own mother’s had been “miserable” from brain and lung cancer.
Naturally, there’s always a concern that someone might feel pressurised to choose assisted dying, for fear of becoming a nuisance to their family.
But, as former Tory minister Kit Malthouse points out, the UK isn’t a country “teeming with granny killers, all of us waiting just to bump off a wealthy relative so we can pocket the cash . . . The vast majority of the British people love their parents, love their grandparents, they want the best for them.”
Indeed we do.
And if they are of sound mind and, crucially, strict eligibility assessments and safeguards are in place to ensure there is no hint of coercion, then allowing someone to choose a medically assisted, pain-free death is certainly something that warrants measured debate and, hopefully, new legislation.
It will come too late for Dame Esther, who has stage four lung cancer and is considering going to Dignitas for a pain-free death.
But if her vocal support for new assisted dying laws helps anyone suffering in the future, then it is a worthwhile campaign.
“Isn’t it typically British that we give the pets we love a pain-free, dignified, private death but we can’t offer it to the people we love?” she says.
Yes it is.
But hopefully, not for much longer.
Oh Kim, put on a Kardy at least
AT first glance, I thought, “what’s Bianca Censori wearing now?”
For anyone blissfully unaware of who Bianca is, she is married to rap star Kanye West and, under his, er, “fashion” influence, steps out in public in a variety of hideous, barely-there outfits including nude tights and a cushion clutched to her ample chest.
As you do.
But this vision in black is none other than Kim Kardashian stepping out in skin-tight “boot leggings” and what resembles a sheet of black tarpaulin draped round her otherwise naked torso.
She and Kanye divorced in 2022 but it seems that his sartorial influence lives on.
JUSTIN BIEBER has posted a selfie of him in tears to his, gulp, 292million followers.
He doesn’t explain the show of emotion, so obviously his fans are worried and speculating wildly about the cause.
Being so open about vulnerability is one thing, but displaying it without context prompts potentially unnecessary concern and suggests you’re just doing it for clicks.
Cannot mate it up, Meg
ANOTHER day, another supposedly close chum for Meghan Markle who, if history tells us anything, will be summarily ejected from the circle of trust once they’ve served their purpose.
This time it’s Sophie Trudeau, who separated from husband and Canadian PM Justin last year.
The Duchess of Sussex not only describes Sophie as a “dear friend” but says they spent a day together “giggling like schoolgirls”.
However, rather than basking in the warm glow of Meghan’s matey musings, Sophie has gone deliciously off message and played down their relationship.
“I know her . . . but we haven’t spent much time together,” she says.
Something tells me that it will be even less time now.
Cars up in smoke
ANT McPARTLIN has been spotted driving around London in a £193k Aston Martin.
First of all, given his motoring record, one can only imagine what the insurance is.
And secondly, let’s hope it’s parked in a lock-tight vault at night because, across the country, a car is stolen every five minutes, and out of those 98,000 thefts last year more than a quarter were stolen in London.
Last week, 21 cars on my street alone had their wing mirrors stolen for the motorised mechanisms housed inside.
It’s an epidemic and the police simply don’t have the time to investigate.
So relish your car while you can, Ant. The joy may well be short-lived.
RUSSELL BRAND says he’s been baptised in the Thames and is now a Christian.
Given that our capital’s river appears to be a petri dish of E. coli and turds, it might well be a lot more than Christianity he’s picked up.
MUCH fuss about the next Bridget Jones movie because 55-year-old Rene Zellweger will be seen dating “toyboy” Leo Woodall, who is 28 years her junior.
Shock horror.
Of course, if it was a 55-year-old Hollywood actor being cast opposite a 27-year-old woman as his love interest, it would be regarded as entirely “normal” and unworthy of comment.
STRICTLY pro Nadiya Bychkova says the Princess Royal told her she would like to appear on the dancing show.
“I think she would be good – there’s a lot of personality there, isn’t there?” says Nadiya.
Indeed there is.
But one suspects that Princess Anne might be better suited to a place on the judging panel if no-nonsense Craig Revel Horwood ever decides to leave.
I’d pay good money to hear her declare a routine as: “Facking orful.”
Oops, Britney
BRITNEY SPEARS has to pay her dad Jamie’s £2million legal bill after failing in her bid to hold him accountable for the conservatorship that controlled her life for 13 years.
A source says the reason it didn’t go to court was because she would be forced to relive her traumas on the witness stand and her lawyers felt it best to focus on protecting her from doing so.
Shouldn’t they have made that decision before legal bills on both sides racked up?
Neigh sense
CAVALRY horse Vida bolted through London after unseating her rider during an exercise to prepare for Trooping the Colour.
Covered in blood after colliding with a row of e-bikes, she was eventually caught and is now recovering.
But sources say Vida has a history of being spooked and is believed to have kicked a soldier in the head during the King’s Coronation.
Begging the question: Why is she still being used for ceremonies?
COWBOY crazy grandad Stephen Smart has spent 25 years transforming his Kent garden into a “dude ranch” with saloon, jail-house and undertakers.
Fabulous.
Particularly as he doesn’t live next door to me.
Really Alice?
ACTRESS Alice Evans, 55, says she has failed to find love on celebrity dating app Raya because famous men her age are only interested in “younger women”.
There’s certainly an element of truth in that.
But might it also be that Alice’s ex-husband and fellow actor Ioan Gruffudd took out a temporary restraining order against her after she launched a campaign of abuse against him and his new girlfriend on social media?