Paul Reilly, a retired Consultant Rheumatologist, gave us a fascinating talk covering his medical career from the time of his training to the time of his retirement.
In it he described in a humorous and fascinating way how much things in his Rheumatology field have changed from the nursing and hospital subculture (white and male dominated) to the medications used and the surgical operations carried out. For the illustrated notes of his lecture click HERE
On June 28th Greg Atkins (for) and Graham Stride (against) from Wincanton explored the arguments for and against Assisted Dying. in order to initiate our discussion. To prepare here is a recent cover article in favor from the Economist. Also highly recommended is a documentary on the BBC I Player entitled BETTER OFF DEAD in which the presenter is against assisted dying from the perspective of a disabled person.
A further paper on this site is an updated version of a paper written for ANVIL in 2013 (John Baxter). To read it go to the main headings above and click on ASSISTED DYING. A BASIC HUMAN RIGHT? (Quite a long paper!)
In two excellent presentations our Proposer, Greg, and Responder, Graham, both gave their opinions, not so much debating one side against the other, as exploring themes and making us all aware of the many different ways that forms of assisted dying could be introduced varying from the most restrictive, that is only for those suffering from immanent death from a very painful condition, through to cases where the right to choose to die is seen as a human right open to all. There are also a wide range of options from self medication to the lethal medication being given by a doctor. Then there were the issues of elegibility. Those with long term non lethal but very unpleasant condidtions to those with mental health problems or dementia or children with very severe extreme handicaps. Then there are the social problems raised in Canada where poverty and homelessness have been given as grounds for seeking death and where the take up of assisted dying is starting to save the health service a substantial amount..
Since this is such a controversial and many-faceted subject JB who was chair for the meeting suggested the earlier ANVIL practice of inviting all who wished to express uninterrupted their point of view after the main speakers and before the coffee break and almost everyone chose to speak . After coffee we had a full discussion with questions and answers. The result was overall a thoroughly provoking and satisfying session which left us all with an understanding of the complexities and variations that the provision of assisted dying schemes might lead to.
As a help to preparing for our next meeting I have taken the Amazon summaries of the three books The Dawn of Everything, Sapiens and The World Until Yesterday you may find useful. Also I have copied in the full summary from wikipedia. You can also hear the authors talk on Youtube. Continue reading
FUTURE MEETINGS
GA Greg Atkins: At our next meeting on 24th May, Don Reed will give a presentation on a recent best-selling book, “The Dawn of Everything – A New History of Humanity” by David Graeber and David Wengrow. This book puts forward some new and revolutionary ideas about human prehistory and evolution, and how modern society compares to prehistoric society; it is available from Amazon. More about that nearer the time, but you may wish to purchase and read this in the meantime. Be warned though that I have found it a difficult read as it is written in a very intense manner!
On June 28th myself and Graham Stride from Wincanton will debate the arguments for and against Assisted Dying. ” the legalisation of voluntary euthanasia.”.
Planned Visit to the Met Office Exeter
I have been in touch with the Met Office in Exeter about arranging a visit to them on July 26th. This will be a day trip and hopefully will involve a talk on Climate Change and a guided tour. If you want to go please let me know now as the Met Office has asked for an estimate of the numbers. We also need people to volunteer their cars, so please also let me know if you can do this. If sufficient people want to go we could also consider hiring a coach or minibus. I intend that we should have lunch in a local pub. It is important that you let me know now if you intend to go, this will not be binding. The cost at the moment is just to contribute to the cost of lunch for your driver.
Blind Copies for ANVIL circulars
Several people have asked to be blind copied for these circulars. On reflection, I have decided to do this for everyone. If you wish to contact a member and want their email address, please write to me and I will ask their permission.
60 Members
For your information, we now have 60 members on the circulation list, but this is probably an underestimate of our membership as I know of several couples who share an email address. This is much better than I had hoped when myself and John started this venture; only a minority of these are members of the former u3a Science and Philosophy groups (although they are also very welcome). We are obviously fulfilling a need not met in Martock and surrounding area by any other organisation. I am gratified also that we are learning orientated, gender balanced, having almost equal numbers of men and women, and do not have a burdensome bureaucracy. The capacity of The George Function Room is 60, so if we were to get much bigger we will have to consider a move to the Parish Hall. At present though I don’t see this happening as experience shows that not everyone will turn up. Also, the facilities at The George are better quality and better organised than those in the Parish Hall, and a smaller group makes for better discussion.
After seven years meeting five or six times a year in Wincanton,, we decided, Greg Atkins and John Baxter, to base ANVIL as an open discussion group to meet monthly In Martock.
Our first session was on Friday 23rd Feb. 24 and was introduced by John Baxter with a response from David Warden. The subject was HAMAS AND THE GAZA WAR. Some 35 came and all had been sent (and said they had read! John’s introductory paper.
Greg Atkins writes:
We’ll meet again next Friday 26th April 10am to 12pm in The George Function Room, to hear presentations and discuss a seminal event in World War 1, the Sinking of The Lusitania. This occurred on 7th May 1915, when the ship sank off the coast of Ireland after being hit by a single torpedo from a German submarine; it took just 18 min to sink with the loss of 1199 passengers and crew. Although the ship was British (Cunard Line) it had departed from New York and 128 of the dead were Americans. Some have claimed that this event precipitated American entry into the war and eventual German defeat. The details of the sinking and how it occurred have remained, however, shrouded in mystery and speculation since the sinking occurred.
Ian Winkle, who is a retired Senior Lecturer at Glasgow University in Marine Architecture, has some new ideas about the technical aspects of the sinking which he will present. Ed Lorch has a Ph.D. in Physics and worked for many years as a research scientist at Amersham International. He was also founder and Chair of the Tintinhull Local History Association. He will introduce and chair the discussion following Ian’s presentation.
John Baxter reports: In a well attended meeting Ian took us through his meticulous research into how and why the Lusitania sank in only 18 minutes as a result of a single German torpedo. In particular he argued on technical grounds that the armaments stored in the bows of the ship could not, as has been widely reported and asserted by the Germans, have exploded, so causing the ship to sink and making it a legitimate target because of this contraband cargo. Instead, Ian argued that the torpedo had penetrated the hull before exploding and the rapid sinking was the result of a series of preventable errors. So who in the end was responsible for this terrible loss of life? US, Germany, Ship Owners?
Ed Lorch then added to what became a lively discussion with selected extracts from US library of Congress and Wikipedia. Continue reading
This poem was written just at the end of the Glasgow conference.
COP26. Time Will Tell Continue reading
CLIMATE CHANGE, SCIENCE, SPECULATION AND PROPAGANDA
We had an excellent session with our two speakers kicking off not they said as Climate Change deniers, but as questioning science driven voices. After their 40 min and 30 min talks, everyone who wishes spoke out their views and a vigorous discussion followed. I only gave bits of the paper I had prepared but here it is with responses from Greg and Iain to make of it what you will.
John Continue reading
CCC Climate Change Committee The Sixth Carbon Budget. The UK’s Path to Net Zero Predictions made in 2020, CONFIRMED 2021
The need to adapt to a changing climate This section summarises the evidence that indicates climate impacts will continue to increase even under a rapid reduction in global emissions and could be greater still if global emissions reductions are not sufficiently rapid to achieve the Paris Agreement. Continue reading
Jules Reilly, a retired physiotherapist, gave us an excellent talk entitled