Seeing his brother’s distressing deterioration has made the broadcaster even more certain that legal reform is needed

My brother was a sculptor. A vibrant, formidable force. Physically strong and intellectually clear-minded, with a wonderful capacity to express his love of art. The autumn before he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, my wife noticed he looked a bit frail. He had trouble swallowing his food. He had just completed a sculpture of Coleridge for a churchyard in Devon and was otherwise fit and well. But then he fell over, on to a child while in London. Nick had been mortified, so he visited the GP. In February 2023 I received the call: “Joth, I’ve got some bad news.”

The diagnosis came brutally. It horrified Nick to adjust to a life in which he would not be able to use his hands or voice. “I’m not going to allow myself to be a trussed-up chicken carcass,” he said. “I’m going to bring an end to it before that.”

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In an interview, the Lib Dem leader says even Labour voters want party to win seats so they can hold Starmer to account

The Lib Dems will push a Labour ­government to adopt more radical policies on tax, welfare and bringing Britain closer to the EU, Ed Davey has said, amid growing expectations that his party is on course for a far bigger role in the next parliament.

In an interview with the Observer , the Lib Dem leader said that his ­party’s focus remained squarely on ousting Tory MPs via a tactical ­voting drive that he claimed could be the most successful ever seen.

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We should be able to die at home, and before we lose our minds to dementia, the writer argues

When the distinguished Belgian writer Hugo Claus was first diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, he emailed his friends to say that when the disease had advanced to the point that he would be soon unable to make decisions, he would end his life. Accordingly, in March 2008, he died at a legal Belgian facility. The Catholic church naturally condemned his action. Whereas the former prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, not always a man for the striking phrase, said that the onset of Alzheimer’s must have been “an inevitable and unbearable torture”, and went on: “I can live with the fact that he decided thus, because he left us as a great glowing star, right on time, just before he collapsed into a stellar black hole.” Claus’s actions struck me, and still do, as rational, exemplary, and in a quiet way, heroic.

The religious generally argue that God has given us life, and so it is not ours to dispose of as and when we see fit. The non-religious, who guess that we have arrived by some piece of cosmic chance, are more inclined to think that as autonomous beings, it is our right and duty to live according to our own lights and, in extreme circumstances, to control the manner of our own death. With increasing longevity, plus medical advances that keep us alive well beyond the point where in previous centuries we would have died, complex problems arise for individuals, doctors and society at large.

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Seat of Labour’s Stella Creasy among those challenged by activists running as independents in the general election

Anti-abortion campaigners are running as independent candidates in the general election against prominent MPs seeking re-election who supported decriminalisation.

The seats of Labour’s Diana Johnson and Stella Creasy and Conservative Caroline Nokes are all being targeted by anti-abortion activists. The three proposed or supported recent amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill which would have stopped prosecutions for anyone ending a pregnancy in England and Wales.

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Campaigners find PFAS, which can contaminate the soil and water supply, in more than 80% of 27 companies’ products

Hikers may be inadvertently damaging the environment and risking their own health by wearing clothes made waterproof with “ forever chemicals ”, according to research by Ethical Consumer .

The campaigning magazine examined 27 companies that make outdoor clothing such as fleeces, waterproof jackets, walking boots and rucksacks, and found 82% were still using per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS .

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They strengthen muscles – and family bonds. Six sets of relatives who train as a team explain the appeal

Stephanie and Ryan Corcoran rowing with their five children , Juno, Culainn, Elvi , Bernard and Vincent; Wexford, Ireland

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Remembering the deaths of her first husband and brother, the broadcaster calls for urgent change

Many people have a vision that they’re going to die a good death because they’ve seen it on telly. A patient lies in bed, with their nearest and dearest. Holding hands. Mozart playing, before they drift into a deep sleep.

Death, for most, is not like that at all. My first husband had a horrible death. He didn’t want to die because he thought he should live for my sake and the children. But he had emphysema. Sometimes he would not be able to breathe and doctors would have to get him on a trolley to get to the right equipment. It was incredibly upsetting. We’d run down the corridor and he’d try to grab my hand. Once he put my thumb in his mouth and sucked it like a child with a dummy. Doctors shoved me out of the way and took him to a defibrillator. The next day I went back to the hospital and he was fine. I thought, how many times will we have to go through this?

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A cancer diagnosis has reinforced the presenter’s belief that the time for change has come

Twenty years ago there were three deaths in my family. We lost my mother, my husband and our rescue dog in a few short months. Looking back, now that I have had a diagnosis of stage 4 lung cancer and am having to face the reality of my own mortality, the most peaceful, pain-free and easiest death was our dog’s, who was gently put down surrounded by his loving family. I envy him. The current state of our criminal law means that merciful end is denied me. I know we love our dogs in this country, but why, at the very end of our lives, do we treat pets so much better than we treat people?

I am told assisted dying inspires more letters to newspapers than any other issue. A recent Westminster Hall debate was attended by so many MPs that they had to find extra chairs. The speeches were passionate and moving. Many described witnessing the painful death of someone close to them. But it was only a debate, no possibility of a vote at the end, or any change in the law. It resulted from a petition I helped to spearhead, along with the campaigning charity Dignity in Dying . For their own sake, and for the sake of those they love, 200,000 signatories called for a change in the law to legalise assisted dying in carefully regulated circumstances, for terminally ill people with six months or less to live. I believe the time for that change has come.

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The TV presenter who died this month was full of ideas for single actions that could benefit body and mind

Dr Michael Mosley, the popular TV presenter, podcaster and columnist who died this month , was best known for surprisingly straightforward tips to improve your health and wellbeing.

As well as producing documentaries and regularly appearing on television, he presented more than 100 episodes of Just One Thing , a BBC Radio 4 series where each episode explored a single action you could take to improve your health.

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