Now that the law has permitted Christian Rossiter’s nursing home to stop feeding him through a tube against his wishes, I hope he will not linger too long.

He has declared that he wants to die and was even trying to travel to Switzerland for help.

My sick father starved to death and it was a horrible way to go. I have personally witnessed the failure of palliative care. Now that the court has conceded, Rossiter has asked that painkillers be administered through the feeding tube instead so that his suffering will not be prolonged.

Mr Rossiter is only 49 and became a spastic quadriplegic as a result of a car accident. He has no quality of life and no hope of recovery and so his nursing home has asked for legal permission to stop feeding him through a tube. Artificial feeding is considered to be a medical procedure and so Rossiter has the right to refuse such a procedure, the court said.

The nursing home was naturally concerned that it could be charged with murder or euthanasia so it went to the law. Thank goodness that the court has seen reason.

I wish Mr Rossiter a peaceful and speedy departure. He has suffered enough. In my opinion, he should be helped to leave this life with more dignity than a slow and painful death by starvation. There is something very callous in a world that condones such cruelty.

When a convicted criminal is sentenced to jail for life, a sentence which is usually reserved for criminals who have committed a very serious offence, he or she should serve out the sentence.

I question the ethical validity of releasing life-term prisoners just because they are terminally ill.

Take Ronald Biggs, for example, who took part in a train robbery in which a guard was killed. He escaped from jail, lived many years in South America, thumbed his nose at British law and then returned to the U.K when he was ill and needed free medical treatment. Now that he is mortally ill, he has been released on compassionate grounds.

The question I ask is what has he done to deserve compassion?

Today we hear that the Lybian bomber convicted of blowing up Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie may be released from prison because he has terminal prostate cancer. The question I ask once again is why should a terrorist who claimed the lives of 259 passengers plus 11 residents of Lockerbie be given any compassion at all?

He is not in pain and he will probably survive for many years according to the Scottish Lord Justice, Lord Hamilton. But even if he were in pain, so what?

While doubts have been raised about al-Megrahi’s guilt, this is a separate issue since he has been convicted. While his conviction stands, he should die in prison.

Many years ago, I spent a very solemn afternoon in the Lockerbie Memorial Garden. It was a small unassuming place but very poignant. I could not help but think of the thwarted lives of the innocent victims on Pan Am Flight 103 and those who died in the quiet village which will always be associated with one of the world’s most heinous crimes. The memory of this tragic event is as vivid in my mind as it was 21 years ago.

That’s when I felt true compassion.

First of all, I will preface my outrage by stating that “The Australian” is a newspaper that I respect and subscribe to. But what it did regarding the disclosure of yesterday’s roundup of alleged terrorists was a betrayal of the Australian security system. Continue reading →

If it weren’t so tragic for Mr Grech this whole incident over a fake email could be the plot of a Restoration Comedy of Errors.

We have two ambitious political foes out to stab one another in the back or the front or anywhere else as long as the blow is fatal. Continue reading →

So the government is going to do something positive about the binge drinking problem. What is that something, you may well ask… Continue reading →

When I was a little girl our family only talked of the past. How it had been during World War II. How you had to be wary of some people because of how they had treated the Jews during the war. How you had to be on your guard about world events.

That feeling has remained with me. I do not trust easily. Continue reading →

Today marks the first anniversary of our move to Melbourne. So much has happened in that year. We settled into our new home which is ideal for us. We have joined some social and educational groups. We go out most days and have covered kilometres on foot in our exploration of this wonderful city so full of historical buildings and the sort of Nineteenth Century architecture which I admire so much.

Unlike Sydney and Brisbane there is a concerted effort here not to overdo the modernisation bit. Yes, there are some places that have high-rise anonymous forests of glass and plastic Lego-shaped towers but they are mainly confined to an area called Docklands. We looked at that area when we first arrived in Melbourne and shook our heads at its alienating effect. It wasn’t for us.

So where we are is where we want to be.

Not so long ago I raved on about the wonderful change of seasons in Melbourne. The weather was bracing, I said. A recent bronchial infection and pneumonia soon made me moderate my enthusiasm for the Wayward Wind that yearns to wander.

The seasons are still amazing, but the bracing wind has lost some of its magic. I even find myself smiling when the sun shines for that brief second. I cosset myself in scarves and mittens and wonder whatever happened to that muff that I loved so much in Siberia when I was a child. Funny that I should be thinking about that muff now.

That ode that I quoted about Autumn in a previous post has now been replaced. I’m now into Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” and that line “If Winter comes can Spring be far behind?”

Dear Reader,

I will not be posting for a while.

There was a time when going to David Jones, one of Australia’s leading department stores, was a pleasure. You were guaranteed great service and a wonderful choice of products. Those days are long gone. Continue reading →