#MP Switzerland

[llovinghome]

[dortman]

I am 0% Swiss but today I am 100% Swiss

[herawell]

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[aroundtheworldmp3]

Churches around the world

Solothurn, Switzerland Rome, Italy Trvava, Slovakia Ernakulam, India Hanoi, Vietnam Seyðisfjörður, Iceland Washington, USA Sainte Anne de Beaupré, Canada Belfast, Ireland Uppsala, Sweden Mexico City, Mexico Barcelona, Spain

[jaybird1306]

Last month, England and Wales took the first step towards legalising assisted dying (a separate bill is under consideration in Scotland, while Northern Ireland is described as “left behind” on the issue). After a five hour debate in Parliament, MPs voted by 330 to 275 in favour of the The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. As it stands, the bill would allow terminally ill adults with an expected six months left to live to end their own lives. They would have to make two separate declarations, signed by either themselves or a proxy (who can be someone who has known them for two years or someone of “good standing” in the community), and their eligibility would have to be confirmed by two doctors and a High Court judge.

The vote to approve this bill is being presented by supporters of the right to assisted death as a victory for dignity, compassion and bodily autonomy. The ultimate in the right to choose. And on these bases you might assume that I am one of those people. After all, I do believe in bodily autonomy. I hope it goes without saying that I believe in dignity and compassion in death as in life. And, of course, I believe fervently in the right to choose what happens to your own body.

But rather than these beliefs leading me to support this bill, they are in fact the reason that I have my doubts. Let me explain.

Like most good liberals, when I historically thought at all about assisted dying I considered myself to be in favour of it — although admittedly without having thought through any of the details. There is no doubt whatsoever that current end of life care leaves far too many people suffering a painful and undignified end. There is also no doubt that some people, out of fear of such an end, have ended their lives earlier than they might otherwise have chosen to, while they still had the ability to travel to Dignitas in Switzerland. Family members have faced the choice of letting their loved one travel and die alone in a foreign country, or to go with them and face the risk of prosecution on their return. None of this is humane. And legalising assisted dying seems like an obvious way to address these issues. That, in any case, was what I historically thought.

But a few years ago, doubts were introduced in my mind when I was a judge on the Royal Society of Literature’s Christopher Bland Prize. One of the books submitted to us was a memoir by Alastair Santhouse, a consultant neuropsychiatrist at The Maudsley Hospital in London. The book, Head First: A Psychiatrist’s Stories of Mind and Body, didn’t make the shortlist in the end, but it did make a lasting impact on me, most notably on my opinion of assisted dying.

Santhouse opens his section on the topic by recounting his first experience of a practice he was later to discover was so common it had a name: “granny dumping.” That is, the depositing of an unwanted elderly relative (the name suggests usually a female relative — we’ll come back to this) at a hospital over Christmas. The elderly woman in question here was brought in by her son and daughter-in-law who told Santhouse, “She just isn't right,” before leaving and turning off their phones. On her own, the woman, now in tears, told Santhouse there was nothing wrong with her. “They just don’t want me over Christmas.”

This episode may shock you as it did me. The thought of doing such a thing to my own mother causes me physical pain in my stomach and a lump in my throat. I simply cannot bear it. But, says Santhouse, the medical profession quickly disabused him of his “notions of people always behaving honourably or having respect for the elderly.” And it is his decades of experience, his repeated witnessing of this lack of honour and respect for older people, that makes him so implacably opposed to assisted dying.

While some may have taken a calm and rational choice to end their lives, there are an unquantifiable number of people who may be pressured or coerced into doing so. […] As they approach the end of their lives, people feeling unwell and scared can experience a pressure, spoken or implied, to let their families collect the inheritance that they would otherwise not get if they had to pay for medical or nursing home fees. They may also feel a pressure to release their families from the burden of caring for them. Vulnerable, frightened patients may only feel loved, accepted and valued by their families if they take the decision to end their lives by assisted suicide. — Santhouse (2021) pp. 206-7

As my parents have aged I too have witnessed some of this lack of honour and respect for older people in action. For example the time an impatient male carer made my strong, capable, fiercely independent mother cry when she was, in the immediate aftermath of a hip operation, feeling none of those things. I have also seen how quickly someone who is strong, capable and fiercely independent can suddenly become scared, uncertain and vulnerable when they lose their independence, even if, as with my mother, it was only temporary. It is far from unbelievable that someone in this state could be quite easily coerced into agreeing to end their own life. Rather, it is frighteningly believable. Indeed I personally know of at least one case where someone felt pressured (to my knowledge never overtly vocalised, but as Santhouse points out, this pressure does not need to be spoken to be felt) into arranging their own death, before at the last minute changing their mind. How many others have simply gone through with it?

Well, according to a recent report on assisted dying, “mercy killings” and failed suicide pacts, that is a question for which we do not have an answer and nor are we likely to get one any time soon. Written by the think-tank “The Other Half, the “Safeguarding women in assisted dying” report notes the “secrecy” that is “built into the latest assisted dying proposals in the UK.”

This is also true of countries thought to be exemplars like Oregon and the Australian states. In Oregon, death certificates do not include a note of assisted dying. All provider information on assisted deaths is deleted after the annual report is prepared. This simple data report does not, and would not, reveal the kind of abuses we fear here. In Canada, there are stories now emerging of families who have tried to prevent their relative being given MAID [medical assistance in dying] —as they believe they are not terminally ill. Families cannot get access to medical records to understand if their relative was coerced. The state protects itself and those who are involved in delivering death. — The Other Half (2024)

The abuse the authors of this report in particular fear is state-delivered domestic homicide — and not without good reason. Although the UK inexplicably only started including over 75s in domestic abuse statistics in 2020, we know that elder abuse is far from uncommon. We also know that women live more years than men in ill health, and that having a disability doubles a woman’s risk of being domestically abused. The law in England and Wales has also recently recognised suicide as an outcome of domestic abuse (indeed, data suggests it may be more common even than homicide) and has outlawed the “rough sex defence” through which men who killed their sexual partner via strangulation achieved leniency in prosecution and sentencing.

We cannot claim therefore to be ignorant of the clear vulnerabilities women face, nor of capacity of violent men to exploit the law to justify their abuse. And yet despite this knowledge, the potential for these laws to be used in the furtherance of violence against women has been shamefully absent from the assisted dying debate.

And not just here in Britain. The report highlights that most countries that have legalised assisted dying don’t even consider domestic abuse in their safeguards (which are mostly concerned with will beneficiaries), let alone collect or publish any data on the issue. Meanwhile, assisted dying campaigners in the UK have championed two male mercy killers with a history of domestic violence, one of whom had previously been imprisoned for bludgeoning his second wife with a mallet.

The result of this data gap on domestic abuse and assisted dying is that it’s hard to quantify exactly how widespread the problem is. We do have some indications, however. We know that in Canada, women “seem 2 times more likely to seek MAID track 2—which allows for those with non ‘reasonably foreseeable’ deaths to die” — that is, women who are not terminally ill. We know in Belgium that women dominate the figures of those given “psychiatric euthanasia.” Why are these psychologically troubled women so much more likely to seek death than their male counterparts? The data is silent on this issue, and the states in question seem in no hurry to uncover the reason behind the sex discrepancy.

In the Bill as it currently stands in England and Wales, assisted death for the mentally unwell would not be an immediate issue, since the law would apply only to terminally ill patients — but the example of countries that have gone before us shows how easily and quickly the concept of “terminal illness” can be and has been stretched.

…it is estimated that now 3 per cent of Belgian and Dutch assisted deaths are for psychiatric disorder. Psychiatric illness is not usually terminal and suicidal impulses are often part of the illness itself. To have a state-sanctioned way for such people to end their lives should be a cause of concern for everyone.

One study showed that 50 per cent of Dutch psychiatric patients asking to die had a personality disorder* (a very unstable diagnosis with symptoms sensitive to social pressures), a figure similar to that in Belgium. Twenty per cent had never been hospitalized because of mental health problems (which calls into question how severe they are) and, in 56 per cent of cases, loneliness and social isolation was thought to be an important factor. This in turn raises the question as to whether assisted suicide is being used instead of proper social and mental health care. Perhaps the most troubling statistic in the study was that in 12 per cent of cases in the Netherlands, the three assessors had not agreed unanimously on the decision, and yet the assisted death went ahead anyway. — Santhouse (2021) p. 209

This final statistic is echoed in a finding from The Other Half report, which notes that in Western Australia, guidance states that “feeling a burden” is meant to be a red flag for assessors determining a patient’s eligibility. But despite “more than a third of those approved reporting they felt a burden, Western Australian medics decided that everyone who applied for VAD was eligible in acting voluntarily and not being subject to coercion in 2023-24.” Which, to say the least, stretches credulity; as the authors of the report put it: “It is startling that despite the prevalence of domestic and elder abuse in Australia, the assisted dying safeguards for these picked up absolutely no one at all.”

Well, quite.

Santhouse also raises concerns about safeguarding, noting that “as the experienced expert who would be asked to undertake [safeguarding] assessments,” their presence is “no reassurance whatsoever.” It is, he writes, “extremely difficult to truly know someone's motives, including the motives in someone asking for assisted dying. This is particularly the case where the individual concerned is frightened, vulnerable or wants to please others, and do what they believe others want them to do.”

Source: The Other Half (2024)

[Image description: an excerpt from The Other Half, "The 2006 killing of Mandy Horne in Shetland was widely reported as a Romeo and Juliet, mercy killing by her husband - Mandy had MS. Both died so there was no investigation. Only through Mandy's father and a curious Times journalist was it later revealed to be a very violent murder and suicide by Mandy's husband: he's also killed their pets. The night before she died, Mandy had asked friends to stay because she was scared of her husband."]

But despite the failure of states that have legalised assisted dying to collect data on its intersection with domestic violence, we are not entirely without pertinent evidence. By combing through “news reporting, inquest findings, sentencing remarks and court of appeal judgements where killings and attempted killings were said by a judge, coroner or defence to be part of a mercy killing, or (failed) suicide pact,” The Other Half report authors have identified and reviewed more than 100 “mercy killings” and “failed suicide pacts” — and they make for sobering reading.

The Other Half’s research revealed that “at least 5 UK men per year violently kill women who are disabled, elderly or infirm, under the guise of mercy killings.” Eighty-eight per cent of the killers were male, overwhelmingly husbands and sons, and the killings were extremely violent, involving “cutting women’s throats, bludgeoning them, shooting them, or using stabbing, suffocation and strangulation.” One woman was thrown off a balcony by her son. Another was strangled with her dressing-gown cord by her husband. Many women had their throat slit. “Overkill,” the authors found, was frequent. Meanwhile, men are “overwhelmingly the survivors of ‘failed suicide pacts’.”

Having my throat slit, or being strangled with my dressing gown cord, or being thrown off a balcony does not sound particularly merciful to me, and whether or not you wish to die, it is hard to imagine anyone choosing to die in such a violent manner. But the vast majority of these women did not ever express a wish to die at all, let alone to die violently. 78% of them were not even terminally ill, being simply “disabled or elderly and infirm.” The report identified an increase in a woman’s care needs as a trigger for a mercy killing.

The majority of these men were let off with suspended sentences and sympathy from judges who repeatedly spoke of the “exceptional” nature of these strikingly similar cases (the report found that the few women who engage in “mercy killing” generally get a life sentence), with “very limited data, if any, data [being] collected by the state on these deaths, and no learning or curiosity.” One man let off with a suspended sentence had written the joint suicide note himself with no input from his wife; another had a history of domestic violence against his dead wife. And, let’s not forget, these lenient sentences all took place in a context where assisted dying is illegal. It’s also worth pointing out that this analysis would not have been possible if these mercy killings had taken place under the auspices of the new bill, because none of the information would be publicly available.

Source: The Other Half (2024)

[Image description: excerpt from The Other Half, The judicial safeguard: even criminal court judges are not able to spot patterns in so called mercy killings. Selected judicial remarks to mercy and failed suicide pact killers. "This is indeed an exceptional case" - Scotland husband smothered wife who'd returned home from hospital. "A tragedy for you...exceptional in the experiences of this court. You were under immense emotional pressure...you acted out of love." - Husband wrote his wife's suicide note then cut her throat. Suspended sentence. "I conclude the mental torment engendered by the impossible situation in which you found yourself must have been intolerable." - Husband strangled wife after she had broken her vertebrae and had been unable to look after him. Suspended sentence. "[The judge] decided to suspend the sentence due to the 'exceptional' circumstances" - Father helped his daughter take an overdose then suffocated her. She had been receiving (poor) inpatient mental health care in hospital. Suspended sentence. "It was, in part, an act which you believed to be one of mercy." - Husband knocked his wife out with a dumbbell then slit her throat. She had dementia. Suspended sentence. "the defendant was not coping with the strain of being the principle carer...I accept at the time he did believe he was doing what he believed to be an act of mercy." - Husband smothered wife with clingfilm. She had Parkinsons and had recently has a fall. Suspended sentence. "the case was exceptional and jail would not be appropriate" -Husband gave his wife an overdose of antidepressants and suffocated her in a plastic bag. "I accept in killing your wife you were doing so because you felt this was the only way to limit or prevent her suffering." - Husband pushed his wife down the stairs and then strangled her. She had dementia. Suspended sentence. "The taking of a life is always a grave crime, but the exceptional circumstances of this case require the court to show compassion." - Husband cut his wife's throat after her dementia worsened. Suspended sentence. "indeed true love...an exceptional case" - Husband attempted to bludgeon his wife to death with a hammer. Suspended sentence. "a most unusual and very sad case" - Husband struck his wife with an iron pole, then smothered her as she sat in bed. Suspended sentence. "You were convinced that she was suffering and it was more than you could bear." - Son threw his mother off a balcony as she was receiving end of life care. Suspended sentence.]

But what about all the people who are not coerced, you may be thinking at this point. Don’t they have a right to bodily autonomy? Don’t they have the right to choose?

To this I have two points, the first of which is that rights in a democracy must be balanced and the right of one person to willingly choose to end his life must be weighed against the right of another person to choose to continue with hers. Nothing about the debate so far, nor the bill in question, makes me at all confident that this balance has even been considered, much less achieved. As Sarah Ditum noted in her excellent piece in The Times, published shortly before the vote took place:

But for legislation that relies on the principle of informed consent, there seems to be a strange haste to get it on the books without fully investigating its implications. The full text of the bill was published last Tuesday; MPs will vote on its second reading less than two weeks from today. This is not ideal, particularly when the issue is as consequential, ethically and practically, as medically administered death.[…] Before taking a neutral stance on a bill, the government should scrutinise it, including producing an impact assessment and a legal issues memorandum. These are supposed to be made available one month before the second reading, but as they don’t currently exist and the second reading is less than a month away anyway, that isn’t going to happen. — Ditum (2024)

Beyond this lack of proper scrutiny is the question of whether the state of care for those living with illness, whether terminal or not, gives people a meaningful choice to make. Certainly, the Health Secretary Wes Streeting doesn’t think it does, leading to his voting against the bill. Neither, apparently, does the Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD) programme in Australia, if the pamphlet cited by The Other Half is anything to go by, featuring as it does this family quote: “The voluntary assisted dying process was really the first time that any medical and allied health practitioners had given such understanding and empathy to my sister's suffering, and that was such a relief.”

And, sure, you could read this as approbation of the VAD programme. Or you could read it as an indictment on the care system.

For his part, Santhouse says his experience is that when people are asking to die, “they are commonly communicating something different.”

They are asking for help to live. They are saying that they can't see how they can cope with the problems that they have, and are asking for help in finding a way through the seemingly impossible difficulties that lie ahead. To take their request at face value, and to whisk them over to the nearest assisted dying clinic, is to abrogate our responsibilities to the patient. — Santhouse (2024), p.210

If people are not making a free choice, if people are choosing death not because they want to die but because we have failed so abjectly to make living bearable for those who need care, what does that say about us as a society?

Similarly, as the Other Half notes in its examination of female suicidality in response to domestic violence, it “is impossible not to imagine a scenario that a woman in abusive situations would find it easier to access NHS assisted dying than support to create new life away from her abuser.” Certainly, assisting her death would be cheaper, a concern which was also raised by Santhouse, who fears that legalising assisted dying would make it “far easier to give up on people once the going gets tough.”

Advocates for assisted dying often rebut concerns about the morality or ethics of assisted dying by pointing to the strong public support that their position holds. And it’s true: my opinion is, as they say, unpopular: a poll conducted by Opinium earlier this year on behalf of pressure group Dignity in Dying found that 75% of the British public supports assisted dying.

But how many of the British public really understand the implications of how this works in practice? How many of them are thinking about the violence of the mercy killings we are asked to sympathise with, or the ease with which vulnerable people can be coerced into unwillingly ending their own lives? I ask, because when you poll British people who are more likely to have a good grasp of how assisted dying might work out in reality, the support drops rather precipitously.

A recent survey by the British Medical Association found that 50% of doctors were in favour of the legalisation of assisted dying, which is already a substantial drop from the position of the general public. The difference was even more pronounced when considering only palliative care doctors, that is, the doctors who are most likely to have direct experience of the realities for the patients involved (how good care can change their attitude to life; how vulnerable to coercion patients might be). Among these doctors, 76% were against a change in the law — almost the exact inverse of the opinion of the general public.

Where we go from here is unclear. The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is now at the committee stage, where it will hopefully receive some of the scrutiny that has to date been sorely lacking —although given parliamentary timetabling restrictions this is by no means guaranteed. In the meantime, social and palliative care continues to be underfunded and under-resourced. And some men will continue to violently kill some women, and the state will continue to allow most of them to get away with it.

In a weird coincidence, shortly after I wrote this piece a friend of mine told me about the Christmas care package that had been sent by Age UK to her mother and aunt:

[Image description: A collection of gifts that includes slippers, a blanket, shortbread biscuits, a box of Celebrations chocolates, other unidentifiable edible or wearable treats.]

Age UK apparently sends these packages out to people on benefits with age-related health problems, and it’s such a brilliantly practical and caring idea I was inspired to set up a monthly donation to the charity.

Here’s why you should too: ageing is a feminist issue. Older women are poorer (thanks to the pay and pensions gap) and more frail and in poorer health (thanks to the health data and treatment gap) than older men. They are also more likely, thanks to sex differences in unpaid care (see Invisible Women for stats on this), to have spent their life taking care of other people. So, this Christmas, instead of “granny dumping,” let’s return the favour and make sure older women are taken care of themselves as they have taken care of all of us.

The link to donate again is here.

[justforbooks]

Alive in the Merciful Country by AL Kennedy

A primary school teacher navigates lockdown in an ambitious novel that asks potent questions about abuses of state and personal power

A.L. Kennedy has made no secret of her despair about post-Brexit Britain under the “rage-tweeting, Nazi-curious” Tories. “My government has become more radical, and that is difficult to explain to someone living in a European democracy,” she told the Swiss German-language newspaper NZZ in 2023. “Very dark people are at work here.” Kennedy, the author of acclaimed short stories and novels including Paradise, Everything You Need and the Costa-winning Day, has claimed that her views make her work less welcome in Britain. In her book The Core of Things, published in German, she writes: “I may not be the kind of writer our media watchdogs like.”

Alive in the Merciful Country, her 10th novel, was first published in translation in Germany and Switzerland back in 2023. As the book opens it is 2020 and, with her London primary school in lockdown, Anna McCormick is teaching her year 5 class online and doing her best to keep their spirits up. Together they discuss the story of Rumpelstiltskin, the “tricky wicked goblin with a secret name”. They invent Stiltskin dances and do Stiltskin sums about spinning and the weight of gold. For thousands of years, Anna tells the children, people have told versions of this story about lying and the misuse of power, reminding themselves “that the way to defeat all monsters is by knowing who they really are”.

Anna, a single mother to a 20-year-old son, is determined to model to her pupils “functional adulthood of a type that can still insist on expecting a better world”. But Anna’s own faith in that world has been fundamentally broken. As a student in the 1980s, she fell in love with Buster, a fellow performer in the UnRule OrKestrA, an activist street theatre collective. It was only after he vanished without trace that Buster was revealed to be an undercover cop. Decades later, Anna encounters him, her very own “Stiltskin among Stiltskins”, at the Old Bailey trial of five of her OrKestrA colleagues, exhuming long-buried anguish. Then, as the Covid crisis deepens, she discovers an unaddressed envelope propped outside the gates to her flat. It contains a manuscript: Buster’s own story in his own Stiltskin words.

The spine of the novel is Anna’s private journal as she struggles to make sense of both past and present. Traumatised by Buster’s betrayal and a subsequent abusive partner, Anna is furious and fearful in equal measure, raw with pain and paralysed by self-doubt. But although her country is “trapped in a national Bad Relationship”, bullied and gaslit by its Stiltskin government, she still believes in kindness and hope and silly jokes. She wants desperately to believe in her new partner. She tells her year 5 pupils the story of the murderer who kills 99 people and finds forgiveness. She knows that “the Stiltskins must get mercy, because the acting out of mercy cleans and saves us all”.

Into her account Anna interleaves extracts from Buster’s manuscript, detailing his shift from spy cop to self-funded vigilante killer targeting sex traffickers and racist Tory MPs with predilections for cocaine and underage sex workers. “The narrator is part of the bargain when you let a story in,” Anna warns, and Buster – who has as many names as he has stories – is far from reliable. Perhaps he is, as Anna insists, an out-and-out villain. Perhaps, like her, he is on the side of righteousness, his violence an inversion of her own valiant efforts to mend a broken system. Or perhaps his story is like the story of Rumpelstiltskin, a fable to reinforce our faith that goodness will ultimately triumph, and his words do not belong to him at all.

Alive in the Merciful Country is an ambitious novel that asks potent questions about abuses of state and personal power. It is also something of a curate’s egg. At her finest – and there are many fine moments in this book – Kennedy combines a beadily bleak eye with a standup’s comic timing and a profound humanity that breaks open the heart. Too often, however, she shows her political workings. For all her anguished contradictions, Anna is simply too perfect, her sensibilities – and those of all her friends – unwavering and irreproachable. As for Buster’s wearyingly long sections, they all play the same dogged tune. While he remains opaque, his targets are caricatures, numbingly unremitting assemblages of every cliche of their type. The effect is not eased by his stilted writing style: Buster claims to be Scottish but “I am small indications of self-harm and limp aloneness. I am a perfected personality and also clean effective within my truth in a place where I rest and play” reads more like Google Translate.

Whatever game Kennedy is playing with the reader, and she deliberately leaves that question open, it is a game that demands a primary school teacher’s patience. The tilt of her politics is not the problem here – anger at the toxic Tory legacy and the act of national self-harm that was Brexit is hardly unique among British novelists. The frustration of this novel is that she has allowed her absolutism to compromise her remarkable literary talents.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

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[tobacconist]

Marmite

Marmite /ˈmɑːrmaɪt/ :- is a mineral with the chemical formula of [error displaying symbols] generally found in the form of a thick, black, tar-like paste, soluble in water; with a 'distinctive, salty, powerful flavour and heady aroma'⁽¹⁾.

It is chemically similar to other petroleum products such as bitumen and tarmacadam, but is found exclusively within the British Isles; especially in the North of England (although similar substances such as Vegemite & Cenovis have long been mined in Australia, New Zealand & parts of Switzerland, however they are internationally recognised as being inferior in quality). The oldest and largest English mines still in operation are Black Sally's Alley in Burton-on-Trent, East Staffordshire ,& Old Worty Grist in Trubbington Lees, Lancashire⁽²⁾.

Scientists disagree about how it is formed, although it is known to occur in seams alongside coal and shale. It is used as food, being very nutritious, and traditionally as fuel, as an adhesive, and in cosmetics - aswell as having numerous other industrial uses. It is estimated that the export of crude marmite constitutes 69% of the UKs annual GDP, refined marmite exports estimated at almost 420%, however because so much of Britains marmite is sold illegally on the black market⁽³⁾, it is hard to truly verify these figures. Archaeologists⁽ʷʰᵒˀ̣⁾ suggest that some of these mines may date back to the early iron age, with evidence of ancient celts using the substance as medicine, and in early religious rites. Certain modern Neopagan writers have attributed psychedelic properties to the drug, causing some conservative MPs in the 70s to unsuccessfuly call for its prohibition⁽ᶜⁱᵗᵃᵗⁱᵒⁿ ⁿᵉᵉᵈᵉᵈ⁾. The use, and abuse, of marmite has been the cause of much division of opinion in British society. It has been called a unique cultural phenomenon.

⁽¹⁾ this is quoted directly from the current sept2023 wikipedia page for marmite ⁽²⁾ i made these up teehee. the real locations are top-secret ⁽³⁾ come see yer aunt ethel. thruppence a jar. thats a bargain, mind

[transthadymacdermot]

WIP intro: This Happy Consitution

Genre: historical fiction, gothic fiction, political drama, with some vague fantasy elements

POV: third person limited, multiple povs

Status: third draft

Setting: 1807-1810, mostly in the UK but also there's various scenes in other places such as the Arctic and Switzerland

Themes: ambition / duty / morality / honour / corruption

Ernst Leitner is an ambitious and promising young doctor fresh from medical school who, while studying a mysterious new type of whale in the Arctic, discovers a new chemical compound which can be used to bring the dead back to life. After the death of his partner, which he was partially responsible for, he devotes himself in whole to figuring out how to use the compound, and heads to England, where he finds the famous and influential politician the Duke of Tateley willing to support his endeavour in return for personal medical care. Ernst accepts, and with the help of his partner, Deirdre, and her flatmates Colette and Oliver, eventually does achieve the monumental task of Raising The Dead.

Things almost immediately go sour, however, when Ernst's recklessness leads to Oliver's death, and Oliver turns out to be implicated in a political scandal that gets worse and worse the longer you look at it. Now Tateley's scheming friends are very interested in Ernst's life, as well, and when he ends up being accused of the crime, he begins to wonder if there's anyone in his life who he can truly trust.

Characters: (there’s A Lot More Than This, so just know I’m including only the Most Important ones)

Doctor Ernst Johann Leitner: ambitious young doctor, who is mainly motivated by how much he really does just want to stop all the horrors he sees around him. It’s him who discovers the death-defying chemical. he/him

Owen "Tuck" Graves: a transmasc American whaler and journalist hiding out from his parents in London. Ernst's best friend, and a good friend of Colette. he/him

Colette Pernet: French Jewish acrobat, who lives with her father and owns the flat Deirdre and Oliver also live in. She's looking out to protect those she cares about, and them only. she/her

Deirdre Weston: Ernst's (eventual) partner, and Colette's best friend. Finds herself frequently being something of a Cassandra. she/her

Oliver Harris, esq: the youngest son of a wealthy family, who has been thrown out by his mother to fend for himself. He wants to get elected to Parliament, and aids Ernst when Ernst promises to introduce him to Tateley to further his career. he/him

Edmund Arthur Joseph William Achreton, 6th Duke of Tateley: Whig Leader of the Opposition, who has an undefined (due to the time period) chronic illness. He's Ernst's aristocratic patron. he/him

Helene Marie-Anne Adrienne Achreton, 6th Duchess of Tateley: Tateley's wife, she's practically the queen of high society. She's also a naturalist, and very interested in Ernst's work. she/her

Timothy Seymour MP: a mysterious and absurdly private member of Tateley's party who may or may not be manipulating everyone for his own ends. he/him

Lavinia "Vinney" Moore: A society lady, Tateley's best friend since childhood. She's always up to date on all the gossip. she/her

Richard Jepson MP: an advanced radical member of Tateley's party, who is also his very good friend. He finds himself frequently and unwillingly at the centre of various scandals. he/him

[beardedmrbean]

With 144 votes "in favor", 52 "against", the parliament finally revoked the concession of Rosenets port from the Russian company Lukoil by adopting the second reading of changes to the Control Law on the implementation of restrictive measures in view of Russia's actions destabilizing the situation in Ukraine.

After the vote in the first reading, with 136 votes "in favor" and 60 "against", the parliament decided to immediately start the discussion of the second reading of the amendments to the Law on the control of the implementation of restrictive measures in view of the actions of Russia, destabilizing the situation in Ukraine. This happened after the chairperson of the meeting, Rositsa Kirova, refused to interpret a statement by Tsoncho Ganev from "Vazrazhdane" that their group will have proposals between the first and second readings and therefore they want a certain period between the two readings.

Hamid Hamid's attempt to start the second reading of the report was blocked by "Vazrazhdane" MPs who besieged the parliamentary rostrum in an attempt to stop the discussion of the bill. Screams, personal attacks and insults once again blocked the work of the parliament.

On the sidelines of the National Assembly, there was a reaction from "Vazrazhdane" after the decision for the Rosenets port concession to be considered for a second reading as early as today.

Kostadin Kostadinov - chairman of "Vazrazhdane": "We have witnessed yet another violation of the law. Even the right to vote is no longer there. The rulebook was brutally violated, the ruling triple coalition reads the rulebook and the laws like the devil is the gospel. They decided that they can vote on the bill in two readings. We will appeal to the Constitutional Court. The decision is very express. We cannot make proposals on the text before it has been adopted in the first reading. Here a covert operation was carried out, a coup d'état as the referendum was rejected."

"Lawsuits will be filed by 'Lukoil' that the concession contract is broken, for lost profits, for the recovery of the improvements made at the Rosenets port. We will pay, not Kiril Petkov and Mustafa Karadayi. This is an American order. This company is registered in Switzerland. 'Lukoil' can work without a problem in the Netherlands and Belgium, but in Bulgaria it cannot. 'Lukoil' will not lose. We will lose," added Kostadinov.

In addition, the deputies approved the provision of 100 armored personnel carriers from the reserves of the Ministry of the Interior in support of Ukraine. 148 MPs voted "in favor" and 52 from the political groups of BSP and "Vazrazhdane" voted "against".

The draft decision on the additional provision of military-technical support to Ukraine is the third of the ten additional items included in the agenda. Its examination did not begin until 4:00 p.m.

Two days ago, the parliamentary committee on defense approved Bulgaria to provide 100 armored personnel carriers from the reserves of the Ministry of the Interior in support of Ukraine.

Then it became clear that the Ministry of the Interior does not agree with directly negotiating with the Ukrainian side for the handover of the machines. The Ministry of Defense explained that this is the better option, because the handover procedure would be shorter, and besides, the Ministry of Defense is not currently interested in accepting the APCs, because no headquarters was planned for them.

Ivaylo Mirchev from WCC-DB explained that for the last 16 months, Ukraine has purchased weapons for 5 billion leva from Bulgaria, which is one of the countries that helped Ukraine the least.

About 35 countries have helped and continue to help with military equipment.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party asked the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of Defense to appear in the plenary hall to explain the state of the weapons and what compensation Bulgaria will receive at the expense of the donations from the European Peace Mechanism and whether the two ministries (the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Defense) have found the form and the way for the APCs to reach Ukraine.

Hristo Gadjev from GERB-SDS explained that there are written opinions submitted a month ago, which the deputies can familiarize themselves with in order to understand what the technical specifications are and where they are located.

Georgi Svilenski from BSP replied to Hristo Gadjev that the draft decision was submitted on July 13, and the Defense Committee met on July 19. According to him, it remains unclear how much the military aid costs and how much the maintenance will cost.

"With this decision, we can present to Ukraine equipment from the Military History Museum, cannons from Slatina and Geo Milev," comments Svilensky.

Ivaylo Mirchev from WCC-DB "recommended" to Svilenski that "BSP should board Buzludzha and send the flying saucer if they want."

"You can visit all the museums in Bulgaria, but give the flying saucer to Putin," Mirchev replied.

"Mr. Mirchev, you are so incompetent that I regret that I mentioned your name," replied Borislav Gutsanov from BSP angrily.

Hristo Gadjev from GERB explained that the museum exhibits have been breached and cannot be used and when a draft for the ratification of an international agreement between the governments of Bulgaria and Ukraine on the provision of armored vehicles is submitted, all the parameters of the international agreement will be seen.

Andrey Chorbanov from "There Is Such a People" asked if the APCs could not be used for heavy-duty vehicles in conditions and situations in which all-terrain vehicles should be used, although he was clear that Bulgaria would send the military aid.

"I propose to equip and mobilize all young Ukrainians in our country. According to the rules of war, they are deserters from the front. We must help defend Ukraine by sending these people to the front," Chorbanov said.

Part of the reasons for the provision of armored transport equipment with the armament available for it, as well as spare parts for its service to Ukraine, are that in the last 25 years, the maintenance and storage of the equipment in question require significant financial costs from the budget. Also, the technique in question would hardly be applicable in the performance of the main tasks of the National Gendarmerie Service. For these reasons, a large part of this equipment has been declared obsolete for the needs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but it can be a serious support to Ukraine.

The draft decision was submitted by MPs Boyko Borissov, Ivaylo Mirchev, Delyan Peevski, Desislava Atanasova, Atanas Atanasov, Hristo Gadjev, Kiril Petkov and Mustafa Karadayi.

[head-post]

Puigdemont issues new warning to Sánchez

Catalonia’s JxCat party would never be anyone’s political hostage, its leader Carles Puigdemont warned in a direct message to Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

Puigdemont demanded on Saturday that the prime minister honour all agreements reached in order to have enough parliamentary support to remain in power. The former Catalan president said he and his party were ready to “bear political and personal costs” if the coalition government of the PSOE and the Sumar platform fell.

The [political] carrots that they put in front of us or could have put in front of us do not deceive us, nor do they interest us. We want deeds and fulfilment and see things happen and are done differently.

Puigdemont’s new warnings were accompanied by his demand that Sánchez face a vote of no confidence in parliament. November marked the first anniversary of the agreement signed between the PSOE and JxCat, which promised support for Sánchez in exchange for Madrid’s full compliance.

Seven MPs from JxCat in Madrid, another seven from the ERC, as well as the votes of the two main Basque pro-independence parties, the PNV and EH Bildu, are needed to keep the government in place until the end of the current term in 2027. Puigdemont’s statements also threaten the approval of the 2025 national budget, which JxCat rejected last summer, as it allegedly does not include Catalonia’s interests.

Let no one think that we will not maintain our position.

Sánchez has repeatedly said he has no intention of calling an early election if he loses the support of JxCat and the ERC. However, in an attempt to defuse tensions, the PSOE will meet again with JxCat representatives in Switzerland this week.

The list of unfulfilled promises includes, as Puigdemont recalled, devolving powers over migration policy and creating an autonomous tax levying system similar to that of the Basque Country and Navarre.

The pledges also include making Catalan one of the official languages of the Spanish parliament and EU institutions. Although the Sánchez government has so far failed to make Catalan the official language of the EU, partly due to opposition from the bloc’s other partners, Spain has renewed diplomatic efforts to achieve the goal in recent weeks.

Read more HERE

[aroundtheworldmp3]

Switzerland, 1985

[lighthousenewsnetwork]

A new island has mysteriously popped up in the Channel between Britain and France. The island is all stone, rising 500 feet, creating a wall around the interior—a sight reminiscent of Lord of the Rings (which was filmed in New Zealand, so think of the Kiwis as you gaze across the choppy seas of mythology). Satellites cannot see what lies within the island's interior, except for more craggy and black stone. "A strange shining red light... like a warning of something soon to come," said one rock-ologist (possibly a lost song by the B52s). The island has been nicknamed "Brexit," serving as a symbolic barrier between Britain and Europe. Some experts believe that if it remains unexplored, unclassified, and left to exist, it may become a lingering concern for the MPs who continue to debate Britain's mightiness, the greatness of Churchill, the love for their queen, and why Avalon shouldn't reduce itself to being just another European country. Meanwhile, as Russia amasses its army along all its borders... A spokesperson for all things islands stated, "Remember this... during the years when Britain was an empire, a tiny Austrian man with a funny mustache dropped V2 rockets on the heart of that empire. And all the Brits could do was fly Spitfires at the rockets... planes with propellers versus falling bombs that go BOOM! They lost America... how can they be trusted with the future?" The island known as Brexit still stands, silent and forbidding, much like Arnold Böcklin's painting "Isle of the Dead" (Böcklin being Swiss). Switzerland knows a thing or two about staying firm and strong amidst the sea of Europe, holding all the Nazi money, enduring for 500 years, even when the continent is at war around it and all the Humpty Dumpty's are falling down... https://lighthousenewsnetwork.com/a-new-island-rises-between-britain-and-europe/?feed_id=11091&_unique_id=674c7bf9b5eeb

[eurocioleaders]

Healthcare Innovations: European Biotech and Pharma Companies Pioneering Breakthroughs

In healthcare, European biotech and pharmaceutical companies have long been recognized as leaders in innovation, consistently pushing the boundaries of medical science to develop innovative therapies and technologies. Their contributions have not only transformed the treatment but have also significantly impacted patient outcomes worldwide. From personalized medicine to breakthroughs in rare disease treatments, European companies are at the forefront of healthcare innovation, pioneering solutions that address some of the most pressing challenges facing modern medicine.

Advancements in Personalized Medicine

Personalized medicine, often referred to as precision medicine, represents a paradigm shift in healthcare, moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach to treatment and towards therapies tailored to individual patients’ genetic makeup, lifestyle, and environmental factors. European biotech and pharmaceutical companies have been instrumental in driving this transformation, developing innovative therapies that target specific genetic mutations and biomarkers associated with various diseases.

Roche, one of the leading biotech companies in Europe, has made significant strides in the field of personalized medicine with drugs like Herceptin and Perjeta, which are designed to treat breast cancer patients with HER2-positive tumors. These targeted therapies have demonstrated remarkable efficacy in clinical trials, improving survival rates and reducing the risk of disease recurrence. Similarly, Novartis’ CAR-T cell therapy, Kymriah, represents a groundbreaking approach to cancer treatment, harnessing the patient’s immune system to target and destroy cancer cells with precision.

Breakthroughs in Rare Disease Therapies

Rare diseases, characterized by their low prevalence and often devastating impact on patients’ lives, have historically been neglected by the pharmaceutical industry due to the limited commercial potential of developing treatments for small patient populations. However, European biotech companies have stepped up to address this unmet medical need, pioneering innovative therapies for rare and orphan diseases.

BioMarin Pharmaceutical, headquartered in Switzerland, is a prime example of a European company making significant strides in rare disease therapeutics. Their enzyme replacement therapy, Naglazyme, has transformed the lives of individuals with mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS VI), a rare genetic disorder characterized by the buildup of certain sugars in the body. By replenishing the deficient enzyme, Naglazyme helps alleviate symptoms and improve quality of life for patients living with this debilitating condition.

Revolutionizing Drug Delivery Systems

In addition to developing novel therapeutics, European biotech companies are also revolutionizing drug delivery systems to enhance the efficacy, safety, and convenience of treatments. Traditional methods of drug administration, such as oral tablets or injections, often pose challenges in terms of patient compliance and drug stability. However, advancements in drug delivery technologies are addressing these limitations, offering innovative solutions that improve patient outcomes and quality of life.

Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharmaceutical company specializing in diabetes care, has been at the forefront of developing innovative drug delivery devices that streamline insulin administration for patients with diabetes. Their FlexTouch insulin pen, equipped with features like dose memory and adjustable dose settings, offers greater convenience and precision compared to traditional insulin syringes, enhancing patient adherence to treatment regimens and optimizing glycemic control.

Harnessing the Power of Biotechnology

Biotechnology, which involves the manipulation of living organisms or their systems to develop products and technologies, has emerged as a powerful tool in drug discovery and development. European biotech companies are leveraging cutting-edge biotechnologies to create next-generation medicines with unprecedented precision and efficacy, targeting a wide range of diseases including cancer, autoimmune disorders, and infectious diseases.

Genmab, a Danish biotechnology company, is renowned for its expertise in monoclonal antibody technology, a cornerstone of modern biopharmaceutical research. Their flagship product, Darzalex, is the first FDA-approved monoclonal antibody for the treatment of multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer. By targeting a specific protein expressed on the surface of cancer cells, Darzalex helps activate the patient’s immune system to recognize and eliminate malignant cells, offering new hope for patients with this aggressive disease.

[yurideification]

eu4 MP going well so far

(transcript under the cut)

TO THE PEOPLE OF TRINACRIA

Read this carefully as it may save your life or the life of a relative or friend. In the next few days, some or all of the cities named on the reverse side will be destroyed by Swiss artillery. These cities contain military installations and workshops or factories which produce military goods. We are determined to destroy all of the tools of the military clique which they are using to prolong this useless war. But, unfortunately, bombs have no eyes. So, in accordance with Switzerland’s humanitarian policies, the Swiss Corps of Military Engineers, which does not wish to injure innocent people, now gives you warning to evacuate the cities named and save your lives. Switzerland is not fighting the Roman people but is fighting the military clique which has enslaved the Italian Peninsula. The peace which Switzerland will bring will free the people from the oppression of the military clique and mean the emergence of a new and better Trinacria. You can restore peace by demanding new and good leaders who will end the war. We cannot promise that only these cities will be among those attacked but some or all of them will be, so heed this warning and evacuate these cities immediately.

ROME

MILAN

PISA

MODENA

NAPOLI

PALERMO

SALUZZO

FLORENCE