Itās beautiful, and seen from a distance it looks like a rapier cutting through clouds.
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I did see that (not personally obviously 
). Although itās a great technical feat I couldnāt help but wonder what 24 hours on a plane would do to me both physically and mentally 
Itās stunning. Donāt just drive over it though, stop at the services and go up to the viewing area. Or you could spend some time in the valley in Millau looking up towards it.
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I donāt, thatās why I asked the question.
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Yes, weāre keeping an eye on it. Weāve used London Perth non stop to see family in Oz and will again in January. Itās wonderful not to have to stop in shitty airports in Singapore or Dubai mid snooze. I havenāt stopped in Doha, but I doubt itās any better, though it couldnāt be worse. And then just when you need to fly thereās M/E crisis 
I have driven over it a few times, once sheltered by an obliging lorry driver in high winds, but generally I used to avoid it and go through the town. to avoid the tolls for my canine customers. 
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It certainly is. We have stayed in Millau town a couple of times and itās a really nice town to visit. Driving around the locality and seeing the enormity of the bridge from below is, in my opinion, even more stunning than driving over it.
We used to go for an annual petanque competition there and it was all names into a hat to form the teams. One year I was in the winning team. Teamed up with a young woman and a scruffy middle aged man it did not bode well because his scruffiness was accentuated by the very old and tatty grey suit that he wore. He said he was a shooter and, as the lady chose pointer for herself I became the milieu, the one in the middle who supposedly can do both.
It did not start well, despite my protestations. our shooter refused to shoot each time I ventured it as necessary. Spirits sank but then, on a widely spaced end, he suddenly stepped forward and rapidly fired with both his boules taking out at a stroke several of theirs, a hidden pro just waiting for the right opportunity. Mme and I were stunned for a moment before we realised that gave us victory. 
Never check a book by its cover.
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Itās quite evident that Burnham and his team have been doing some thinking over the past few months and this is quite an interesting view of how they plan to devolve power and deliver government.
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I read it but Iām none the wiser. Fortunately Burnham is a better communicator, and some of his ideas - ditching the restriction of jury trial, putting palliative and social care ahead of euthanasia, being prepared to raise taxes - are excellent.
It was obviously written by civil servants - not necessarily a bad thing, but definitely so in this case. It reminded me of those Wankernomics people.
As a Lutonian, born and bred, I was not aware that TGVs ran through Luton.
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Basically local decisions for local people. Interestingly, thereās talk of allocating a proportion of local tax receipts to local government which, potentially rewards local initiative. Obviously thereās likely to be a lot of complexity under such a simple statement so weāll see how that pans out
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Why is that a good idea? Costs relatively nothing and can be brought in relatively quickly. Also there is the question of democracy, the peoplesā elected reps voted for euthanasia and the unelected posh, religious, croneys and chucked out MPs blocked it by various subterfuges.
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If that were true (that palliative and social care cost relatively little), then it should have been done already.
And the fear that all proponents of euthanasia claim is their reason for supporting it is the fear of suffering great pain at the end of life. Improving palliative care would diminish the risk of such pain.
Winter period though, so helpful
Granted, but that wasnāt what I said, I said euthanasia costs relatively nothing so why not let people choose for themselves? Lingering death in an institution or swift death when life becomes unbearable.
In any case, suicide is not illegal, only assisting someone else to do it is.
Sorry, I misunderstood what your āit costsā referred to.
If euthanasia becomes legal, then people will be able to choose.
But the introduction of euthanasia is a big societal change. No-one voted for it; Labour didnāt have the courage of its convictions to put it in the manifesto; and it was plain through the committee stages that it hadnāt been thought through properly, which necessitated many substantial changes.
Again, the key logical point is
if proponents of euthanasia say it is needed because of the risk of a painful death,
and palliative care is insufficiently developed or available to reduce that risk
then improving the effectiveness and availability of palliative care should be done before euthanasia is introduced.
Youāre at liberty to say that you think euthanasia should be introduced for other reasons, if youād like to specify them.
Iād just like it to be possible legally to get my hands on what Iād need to kill myself tidily and comfortably when I decide I want to, for my own personal specific reasons which need concern no-one else, without some awful busybody interfering. Other people can do as they please, if they feel a few months of coma or whatever then a few days of Cheyne-Stokes in a hospital or wherever is the way for them then fine, but I want to do my final conscious physical process at home in a way and at a time that suits me. I felt the same about childbirth which is one reason I had most of my babies at home with midwives and good antenatal care.
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Same here. Itās nobody elseās business at all what I do with my body. I do hope that @Porridge or anyone that he loves never goes the way of my brother who is facing a āliving deathā as his brain is steadily but surely destroyed. He already needs 24hr care and is now mute and doesnāt recognise or respond to anybody (his wife, my sister in law thinks he responds to her, but he doesnāt), or is able to do anything for himself. His body is still healthy though, and he could be like this for years, a husk of a person, dead except for a beating heart and breathing lungs. I defy anyone to state that he should be kept alive like this, year after year, but this is what will happen unless he succumbs to infection or some such other illness. He does have a DNR and no hospital order but how long ? I have nothing but contempt for anyone who says that my brother should stay alive until the bitter end. Heās not suffering himself, but all his family is and to what end ?
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Iām astonished. Maybe you wrote what you did because youāve personalised your beliefs into an attack on people you disagree with, for whom you have ācontemptā. Thatās never going to be a good idea, or to lead to cogent argument.
Breaking what you said down and taking out the ācontemptā, your beliefs lead you to wishing to end the life of someone
- who isnāt suffering;
- whose wife says continues to respond to her (though you believe she is wrong and are prepared to say so);
- whose continuing existence makes you so uncomfortable that you call what you feel āsufferingā.
I wonāt be following you down that path.
(Youāve also fallen into the trap of reading only selections of what Iāve written on this topic, and reacting emotionally to those, instead of taking it carefully and thoughtfully.)