Bill rejected by Newsom would have let attorney general deny mergers after recent scandal involving Stewart HealthHopes to rein in private equity investment in healthcare died in California last weekend, as a nationally watched bill was vetoed by the Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom.The bill was the nation's most high-profile legislative effort to regulate such investments in healthcare, and would have given the state attorney general discretion to deny mergers. Continue reading...
Western leaders look feeble and helpless as religious fanatics and rightwing zealots dig the region deeper into conflictSo it's finally happening. The wider Middle East conflict that so many feared is igniting. Almost exactly a year after Hamas's 7 October terrorist atrocities, Israel is fighting on multiple fronts. Iran is now the principal adversary. Israeli leaders, including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, maintain that it always was. Netanyahu has long sought this showdown.Self-deluding boasts that Israel is winning", bruited about after the assassination of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, drown out calls to halt the madness. Despite their otiose talk of changing the regional balance of power, Netanyahu, his far-right allies and generals lack a credible, long-term political strategy. Their whack-a-mole tactics condemn Israel and neighbours to war without end.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at observer.letters@observer.co.uk Continue reading...
It is little explored that the father of the great architect's patron, Eusebi Guell, made much of his fortune from slavery in CubaI only recently learned, on a trip to Barcelona, that a large part of the money for Antoni Gaudi's glorious buildings came from slavery in Cuba, in which Catalan traders were engaged as late as the 1880s.His greatest patron, Eusebi Guell, owed much of his wealth to slave-based fortunes accumulated by his father-in-law and his father - a fact that, while not secret, is little explored in the official histories. Does this mean that the great architect's work is fatally tainted, that the tourists who queue up to visit the Gaudi-designed palace, park and unfinished church that bear Guell's name should feel bad about themselves for doing so? It does not. But it's never wrong to know the truth, however difficult. Continue reading...
Factory closures and little improvement in working people's lives in Saginaw a death by a thousand cuts' that still hurtsEvan Allardyce worked as an electrician at one of the General Motors factories that once dotted Michigan's Saginaw county and now stand as decaying markers to thousands of jobs lost to corporate agendas. He struggled to find work after the plant closures and was forced to travel across the country for contract jobs.So Allardyce, now a leader of a Saginaw branch of the US's largest electricians union, understands blue-collar anger over the free trade agreements that allowed car makers and other industries to move hundreds of thousands of well-paying jobs into Mexico and Canada since the 1990s. He sees how the resulting economic decline and rising poverty in the industrial heartlands helped elect Donald Trump in 2016. Continue reading...
State's bid cites requirements that $60 Trump-endorsed God Bless the USA Bible appears to be tailor-made to meetOklahoma's top education official is seeking to buy 55,000 Bibles for public schools and specifying that each copy contain the Declaration of Independence and US constitution, which are not commonly found in Bibles but are included in one endorsed by former president Donald Trump.The request is part of Republican state superintendent Ryan Walters' ongoing efforts to require Bibles in every classroom, which has been met with resistance by some of Oklahoma's largest school districts. Continue reading...
New York is pushing birth control to curb its rodent problem - at a time when women's reproductive rights in other US states are under attack. Oh, the ironyEric Adams, we recently learned, seems to have spent the bulk of his time as mayor of New York trying to wangle criminally cheap business class tickets from Turkish Airlines. But while Adams may have made history by becoming the first sitting mayor of New York to be indicted on federal corruption charges, the fact that he has a slightly wonky moral compass is old news. Even before being appointed mayor, there were questions about Adam's truthfulness, including a long-running debate about whether the swagger-obsessed candidate lived in Brooklyn, as he insisted he did, or New Jersey. Continue reading...
A year later, memorials to the 7 October attacks use art, virtual reality and dark tourism to stir support for limitless violence. But there is a different way to remember Continue reading...
More than 1.4 million have already voted in the presidential election, as battleground state polls show no clear frontrunnerMore than 1.4 million people have now voted in the presidential election, as Kamala Harris and Donald Trump continue to crisscross the country in the final stretch of a neck-and-neck campaign.Their vice-presidential picks, JD Vance and Tim Walz, also faced off this week in the only vice-presidential debate of this cycle. But initial polls suggested voters saw the debate as a draw, without clear impact on the race. Continue reading...
Gita, 13, sat down in middle of road in Washington state after owner hurt his leg, fell and couldn't get upA dog saved her owner - who hurt his leg at home in rural Washington state, fell and couldn't get up for hours - by walking to a road, sitting in the middle of it until a local sheriff's deputy stopped, and leading the officer to him, according to authorities.Gita's ability to be a good girl and true hero" in her 84-year-old owner's moment of need after his injury at their cabin on 25 September led to her saving his life that day", the Stevens county sheriff's office said in a statement. Continue reading...
Behind the devastating storm's death toll - currently more than 200 people in six states - lie personal tales of anguishHundreds, if not thousands, of harrowing stories of search and survival have come to light in the wake of Hurricane Helene's devastation, which destroyed communities in six states across the south-east US after it made landfall in Florida's Big Bend region.Heading into the weekend, officials reported at least 215 deaths across Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Virginia, the toll climbing as recovery efforts continued. It was the deadliest US hurricane since the levee failures in New Orleans during Katrina killed nearly 1,400 people. Continue reading...
The interim agreement expires in January, and a further strike would again hurt America's fragile supply chainThe Biden administration breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday when the union representing port workers called off a strike that threatened mass disruption of goods just weeks before November's election.But the dispute between the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and the nation's port operators is not yet over, and could hand whoever wins the White House their first political crisis come January. Continue reading...
by Chris Stein in Knoxville, Tennessee on (#6R88Q)
Since George Floyd's death in 2020, Republican-led states have expanded riot laws to suppress protesters. Trump has a track record of calling for militarized responses to demonstrationsThe Knox county commission was questioning a property developer one evening in April three years ago when protesters quietly filed in to their auditorium and raised their fists in the air.A week earlier, police had shot and killed 17-year-old Anthony Thompson Jr in a bathroom at his high school after they found him with a gun. Protests erupted in Knoxville, the county seat and largest city in eastern Tennessee, and one the loudest voices speaking out was Constance Every, who had organized demonstrations in the city during the national outrage that followed George Floyd's death less than a year earlier. Now, she was in the county commission chamber with about two dozen others, intending to press them for the release of police body-camera footage that captured Thompson's death. Continue reading...
The US president, Joe Biden, has said he is unsure if the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is delaying a peace deal in the Middle East in order to influence the outcome of the US election. 'No administration has helped Israel more than I have. None. None. None,' Biden said during a surprise press conference.'And whether he's trying to influence the election, I don't know,' he added
The general idea behind the NFL's revamped kickoff rules was spicing up a stale play by encouraging returns with a lower risk of injury. Further tweaks could be necessaryWith four full weeks of the NFL regular-season schedule complete, merely one kickoff has been returned for a touchdown under the league's funky new kickoff rules. DeeJay Dallas, who actually plays for Arizona, took one 96 yards to the house in the Cardinals' season opener.NFL kick returners are on pace to score precisely 4.25 touchdowns this season, only slightly better than the four touchdowns scored on kickoff returns last year. But it is very early in the season, and to judge the effect of the new rules just by touchdowns is to miss the point(s). Continue reading...
My hopeful expectations have been confounded at every turn. But one day Israelis will grasp that endless war against Palestinians doesn't workAt the start of Israel's war on Gaza, when the intensive bombing of civilians began, the thought in my mind was: how will we Palestinians live with the Israelis after this? Twelve months later, with no relenting in the killings and the destruction of Gaza, with Israel spreading the conflict to the West Bank, where more than 700 Palestinians have been killed, and its escalatory attacks in Lebanon and Iran, the question has only become more pertinent.In the course of these past 12 months many atrocities have been committed, starting with the killing by Palestinians of 1,200 Israeli soldiers and civilians, followed by the Israeli army killing more than 41,000 Palestinians, including more than 17,000 women and children, 287 aid workers and 138 journalists and media workers. This does not include those unaccounted for who remain under the rubble of the two-thirds of Gaza's buildings that have been damaged or destroyed. Here is just one detail from this 12-month war: On 25 September, Israel returned a truck containing 88 bodies with no identifying details to Gaza.Raja Shehadeh is a Palestinian lawyer and writer, and founder of the human rights organisation Al-Haq. His latest book is What Does Israel Fear From Palestine?Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
by Fawaz Gerges, Leila Seurat, Jason Burke, Orly Noy on (#6R87A)
There are so many players and so many imponderables. Truly it is a region on a knife edgeIsrael's year-long war in Gaza (and the accompanying violence perpetrated against Palestinians in the West Bank), and its ever-expanding military campaign against Lebanon, have led to humanitarian catastrophe and the heightened risk of an all-out regional war. But the wider consequences may ultimately be a great rupture in international relations, and the accelerated decline of the US-led international liberal capitalist order that has prevailed since the end of the second world war.Fawaz Gerges is professor of international relations at the London School of Economics. His most recent book is What Really Went Wrong: The West and the Failure of Democracy in the Middle EastLeila Seurat is a researcher at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, Paris, and the author of The Foreign Policy of Hamas: Ideology, Decision Making and Political Supremacy Continue reading...
In Austria, the FPO would suffocate cultural diversity with illiberal values, brass bands and schlager music. But it's not too late to resistHenry Kissinger is reputed to have asked China's prime minister Zhou Enlai whether the French Revolution had been a success. Too early to tell," was the reply. If the question were asked again today, the answer would be: Probably not." Because all three of the values underpinning the revolution - liberty, fraternity and equality - are now disappearing into thin air in Europe, the birthplace of democracy.And the political changes seem irreversible: In seven European democracies, far-right parties have entered government, and in several more states, including France, they are pushing at the gates of power. Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia and, of course, Russia, have quasi-autocratic governments. Last Sunday the Austrian Freedom party (FPO), a party that even the conservative media describe as radical rightwing", won a general election for the first time. They campaigned on the slogan Fortress Austria", in effect advocating an ethnically and culturally cleansed country. The term is reminiscent of Fortress Europe" - a phrase favoured by Goebbels. Continue reading...
Bank representative confirms Dimon has not endorsed Trump or any other candidate in the 2024 raceDonald Trump's social media post that showed a purported endorsement for the presidency from the JP Morgan chief executive, Jamie Dimon, among the most influential investment bankers on Wall Street, is false, a representative confirmed on Friday.The Truth Social post - what appears to be a screenshot of a tweet with a siren emoji and text claiming Dimon had endorsed Trump, with a photo of Dimon - appeared at 1.56pm ET on Friday, as Trump was flying to Augusta, Georgia, for a campaign event. Continue reading...
by Lois Beckett, Rachel Leingang, Alice Herman, Joan on (#6R7G5)
This blog is now closed. Read more from our politics coverage hereCongresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a hard-right congresswoman of Georgia, is once again facing criticism for peddling a baseless - and just plan bizarre - claim about the weather.Yes they can control the weather," Greene said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. It's ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can't be done." Continue reading...
by Léonie Chao-Fong in Washington, Joanna Walters in on (#6R828)
President says he does not know whether Israeli PM is delaying peace deal in order to influence US electionJoe Biden had terse words at the White House on Friday for Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he didn't know whether the Israeli prime minister was holding up a peace deal in the Middle East - where Israel is at war with Hamas in Gaza and on a military offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon - in order to influence the outcome of the 2024 US presidential election.No administration has helped Israel more than I have. None. None, none. And I think Bibi should remember that," Biden said, using Netanyahu's nickname. He added: And whether he's trying to influence the election, I don't know - but I'm not counting on that." Continue reading...
Officials augment stocks of medicine for those allergic to stings as doctors report increase in those seeking treatmentSwarms of yellowjacket wasps, bees and other insects whose underground nests in western North Carolina were disturbed by Hurricane Helene's flooding have prompted authorities to augment stocks of Benadryl and epinephrine injections for people allergic to stings.The emergency measure, health officials say, is necessary because hundreds of thousands of aggressive insects, especially yellowjackets the size of honeybees, were forced above ground by the storm and have no nests to which to return. Continue reading...
Musk and politicians like Trump spread baseless claims such as Fema blocking flights and confiscating suppliesAs emergency crews work to help people experiencing grave losses after Hurricane Helene, a wave of misinformation has accompanied relief efforts, heightened by an existential election just a month away.The upcoming election has ramped up the misinformation, a common thread of which happens after most big news events. These claims have found believers - or at least opportunistic fans - among top Republicans, who are now tying an unprecedented disaster to issues like immigration. Continue reading...
Automaker says United Auto Workers violated contract and seeks to hold the union liable for potential revenue lossChrysler parent Stellantis filed a federal lawsuit against the United Auto Workers (UAW), saying the union has violated the contract by threatening to strike over the company's delays in planned investment.The automaker filed the suit on Thursday, asking the US district court in the central district of California to declare the decision by a union local in Los Angeles to take a strike authorization vote violates terms of the contract reached last fall. Continue reading...
Eric Rennert, 65, accused in district where Aileen Cannon presided over Mar-a-Lago classified documents caseA man from Illinois has been charged with making violent threats against a federal judge in the Florida district that has handled Donald Trump's classified documents case, according to an indictment made public on Thursday.Eric James Rennert, 65, is facing five federal charges in the indictment which accuses him of communicating interstate threats and threatening to assault, kidnap and murder a federal judge. Continue reading...
McDonnell will head force of nearly 9,000 officers amid rising discontentment over public safety among residentsFormer Los Angeles county sheriff Jim McDonnell will lead the Los Angeles police department (LAPD), taking charge of the force of nearly 9,000 officers as discontent grows among the city's residents over public safety even as violent crime numbers drop, the mayor announced on Friday.Mayor Karen Bass, who had the final say after a civilian board of Los Angeles police commissioners vetted McDonnell, said her selection of a veteran law enforcement officer was based on a need to reduce crime and make every neighborhood safer. Bass met with hundreds of LAPD officers and community leaders before making her decision. Continue reading...
US officials have said its military struck more than a dozen Houthi targets in Yemen, targeting weapons systems, bases and other equipment belonging to the Iran-backed group. According to the US, military aircraft and warships bombed Houthi strongholds at about five locations. Houthi media say the airport in Hodeidah was hit, as well as a military base in the Katheib area. Smoke could also be seen rising from the capital, Sana'a. This is the latest escalation of violence in the Middle East as calls for a ceasefire in Lebanon and Gaza continue.
Communities are stranded, over 200 people have died with more expected, and more than 700,000 are without powerRescue crews in parts of the south-eastern US were still searching on Friday for those missing as they entered the eighth day since Hurricane Helene roared ashore in Florida and became the deadliest mainland hurricane in the US since Katrina in 2005.The death toll could grow higher, having surpassed 200 on Thursday, while the sheer scale of the devastation from wind and floods has slowed efforts to find many people's loved ones and also get supplies to stranded communities and restore power to more than 700,000 people. Continue reading...
Republican presidential nominee returns to scene of first assassination attempt in July as tech CEO reiterates supportElon Musk plans to attend Donald Trump's rally on Saturday at the site in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the former president narrowly avoided assassination in July.I will be there to support!" the tech billionaire replied to a post by Trump on Musk's social media platform, X, saying he was returning to the Butler Farm show grounds. Continue reading...
Israel's tactical successes, including killing key Hezbollah leaders, are not going to alter the core dynamics of the conflictKilling Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, was a step toward changing the balance of power in the region for years to come", the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said on Saturday. Yet, just days later, Iran launched a massive missile attack on Israel, bypassing its formidable air defenses and signaling the high costs and risks of further escalation for Tel Aviv.Indeed, while Israel has achieved significant tactical victories in recent weeks, including the assassination of Nasrallah and other key Hezbollah leaders, the broader question remains: can these successes fundamentally alter the region's strategic dynamics? Continue reading...
Estella Park Riahi never thought she'd join her mother's business, but now she's an enthusiastic partnerAs a kid, when Estella Park Riahi did poorly on a test, her mother had a favorite way of threatening her. She'd tell me: You're going to have to work for the family business!'" said Riahi. That used to scare me."Back then, making and selling hanbok - traditional Korean garments - alongside her immigrant mother, Laura Park, in Los Angeles's Koreatown was the last thing Riahi wanted to do. I attended a predominantly white all-girls school, and I wanted to fit in with everybody whose parents had normal' careers," she said. I had no interest in celebrating my Koreanness." Continue reading...
US homeland security's comments come as over 150,000 households affected by Helene register for assistanceThe US homeland security secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, has warned that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) does not have enough funding to make it through the rest of this hurricane season, which started off more quietly than forecast but has roared into catastrophe with Hurricane Helene and typically runs until the end of November.The warning on Thursday underscored how the federal government is being stretched thin as top Republicans have signaled they won't give it more funding. Continue reading...
Videos voiced by Nate Hochman tout conspiracy theories about McKinsey and have elements of fascist rhetoricA Marco Rubio-linked thinktank stoking fears about Haitian migrants in Pennsylvania has also produced a sequence of videos in recent months that promote conspiracy theories about LGBTQ+ people, human rights organizations and even the corporate consultancy McKinsey & Company.The editor hired to produce those videos also produces for the media organization founded by Mike Lindell, the MyPillow chief and prominent election-denier who is a close ally of the former US president Donald Trump. Continue reading...
A new report states fatalities had decreased by 10% as of April 2024 while 911 first-responder calls were 16.7% lowerExperts have welcomed news of a reported drop in overdose deaths in the US and say they are cautiously optimistic about the downward trend, while warning that more work and extra resources will be needed to sustain progress.Overdose deaths in the US have dropped by about 10%, the largest decline in decades - falling to an estimated 101,168 deaths annually as of April 2024, according to an analysis of state-level data. Continue reading...
As the Dodgers' $700m sensation preps for his MLB playoff debut, his teammates describe a player whose otherworldly talents belie an impossibly down-to-earth personaIt's the final week of the Los Angeles Dodgers' regular season. The San Diego Padres are in town and a win tonight at Dodger Stadium over their Interstate 5 rivals would secure their 11th NL West division title in 12 years. There's an excited buzz in the halls, even now, hours before the gates open to the public. The clubhouse is palpably tense: at the end of a season plagued by injuries, the opportunity to earn a first-round bye and bypass the wild-card round could prove invaluable to their ultimate goal of a World Series title. A tall, floppy-haired man enters the room, noticeably more tranquil than anyone around him, armed with a soft smile and a steaming cup of tea, and plops down at his locker. He is almost staggeringly unbothered. One would never guess that he's a history-making global phenomenon, primed to embark on his first ever trip to the postseason since joining Major League Baseball six years ago with the crosstown Angels. But Shohei Ohtani is not your average superstar.At this point the 30-year-old's dumbfounding statistical achievements speak for themselves, hard as they are to comprehend. Even in a season when his unprecedented two-way skillset was forced to take a backseat with his rehab from a second major elbow surgery keeping him off the pitcher's mound, Ohtani found a whole new way to rewrite baseball's record books. Only days ago he became the first player in major league history to rack up 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single campaign. By week's end, he will have finished the regular season having topped the National League in homers (54) and runs batted in (130) with a batting average (.310) second only to San Diego's Luis Arraez (.314), falling a few percentage points short of becoming the NL's first Triple Crown winner since Joe Medwick of the St Louis Cardinals in 1937. The eye-watering numbers don't stop there: 134 runs scored, 411 total bases, a .646 slugging percentage and an OPS over 1.000. Continue reading...
A judge has ordered an EPA risk assessment amid fear that additive that strengthens teeth could harm children's IQsFor decades, drinking water fluoridation opponents were often portrayed as a fringe element and conspiracy theorists, but a federal ruling in the US may put an end to the practice and marks a pivotal point in their campaign to convince the public and policymakers of the substance's dangers for infants' developing brains.Armed with a growing body of scientific evidence pointing toward fluoride's neurotoxicity, public health advocates say the legal win shows they are overcoming institutional inertia" and the unwillingness of federal public health agencies to admit they may have been wrong. Continue reading...
If voted into law, Proposition 6 would abolish forced labor as a criminal punishment in the state's prisonsGovernment-sanctioned slavery still exists in California. The state is one of 20 where incarcerated people can be forced to work against their will. But if it's up to the assemblymember Lori Wilson and the state's legislative Black caucus, that will come to an end in November.Wilson and the caucus are behind Proposition 6, a proposal on the ballot on 5 November that would abolish forced labor as a criminal punishment in the state's prisons and prevent inmates who refuse to work from being penalized. Continue reading...
If the right strews constitutional chaos over the certification of this presidential election, two people will have cleared the pathTwo men recognized and exploited the anti-democratic loopholes within America's rickety democracy in order to deliver Republicans victories that they could never win at the ballot box.Now their willfully minoritarian creations threaten the very essence of a representative democracy: if Donald Trump, rightwing courts, gerrymandered state legislatures and an extreme Republican caucus in the US House of Representatives create constitutional chaos over the certification of this presidential election, two men cleared the path.David Daley is the author of the new book Antidemocratic: Inside the Right's 50 Year Plot to Control American Elections as well as Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn't Count Continue reading...
There are signs of rebellion in Austin, Oscar Pareja's men are well worth watching and Lionel Messi appears to be heading for yet another titleWelcome back to the Guardian's MLS Power Rankings, where I have a beef with your specific team and your specific team alone. I've hired Drake Callender to save me from any dangerous objects that will be hurled my way by readers angered by these rankings. Hey, he's good enough for Inter Miami, he's good enough for me.Now, as a reminder, these aren't your standard, run-of-the-mill power rankings. We're still ranking teams from worst to first. But along with the rankings, we're diving deep into a handful of teams from around the league who are doing particularly interesting things. Continue reading...
The former US president will campaign for Kamala Harris, starting in the crucial battleground state Pennsylvania that could decide the electionFormer president Barack Obama will crisscross the battleground states for Kamala Harris, with a kickoff in all-important Pennsylvania next week, according to a senior Harris campaign official.Obama will hold his first event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania next Thursday, the beginning of a blitz across the handful of rust belt and sun belt states that will probably decide the 2024 election. Continue reading...
Black signal callers are no longer marginalized. But it also means that, to some extent, they have been forced to become company menTwo years ago, under a cloudless sky in north central Louisiana, Doug Williams and Michael Vick met on the football field at Grambling University's Eddie G Robinson Memorial Stadium to reflect on the NFL trail they helped blaze. In 1988 Williams led Washington past Denver in Super Bowl XXII, breaking fresh ground: he was the first Black quarterback to start in a Super Bowl and finished the game as MVP. In 2001 Vick was the top pick in the NFL draft. All were landmark firsts for Black quarterbacks - and they didn't stop there.Look around this league now," Williams told Vick in his stubborn Louisiana drawl. I could be wrong, but in the next five to seven years? Half of the quarterbacks in this league gon' be Black." In his day Williams was famous for his deep shots - but he could well wind up three years long of this mark. Continue reading...
Georgia's conspiracy theorists are still disputing the result of the last US presidential election. Will this year's be more peaceful? I looked for clues in the Atlanta suburbsA few weeks ago, I found myself standing in the white marble atrium of Georgia's state capitol building, watching a scene that encapsulated much of the presidential race. To my right: a cluster of election conspiracy theorists who still believe Donald Trump won in 2020. To my left, a group of voting rights campaigners, singing an old spiritual popularised during the civil rights era.They were here to observe last-minute efforts by hard-right officials to alter the way in which votes will be counted next month. The measures, many say, will sow doubt in this crucial swing state, creating chaos that is likely to favour Trump. Continue reading...
With every bombing, more people are horrifically injured and left to survive without the devices and medications they needIt is breakfast and I reach for a painkiller dropped off by a Boots delivery van. The sleep apnoea machine by the bed is beeping and I plug it in to the mains to charge. I can't stop thinking about the disabled and ill people in Gaza; the dialysis patients who were halfway through their treatment when the power stopped, the children surviving off animal feed who can't find bread, let alone a wheelchair.I scroll social media and see the bodies of babies decomposing in an abandoned hospital, milk bottles and maggots next to their beds. I wonder had they been permitted to live, how much longer they would have survived. If they would have died in pain when the morphine ran out, or gasped for air when the ventilator batteries went to red. And I wonder if a quick death is what counts as mercy nowadays, in a place where no amount of suffering seems to matter.Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnistDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
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