Scotland could become first part of UK to offer terminally ill adults assistance to end their lives if Holyrood approves bill

A new bill to legalise assisted dying in Scotland has been published at Holyrood by the Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur, in a fresh attempt by supporters to get the measure enacted for the first time in the UK.

What are the current laws on assisted dying?

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Membership of exclusive clubs can be ‘unfair advantage’ for some lawyers seeking to move into judiciary, says barristers’ body

Exclusive members’ clubs “create the potential for unfair advantage” for lawyers seeking to become judges, the Bar Council has warned, responding to growing unease about senior legal practitioners who are members of the men-only Garrick club.

The professional body for barristers set its comments about “closed doors and exclusionary spaces” against the background of wider concerns over the under-representation of women in the judiciary, and persistent gender disparities in female lawyers’ career progression and earnings.

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If law is passed Scotland would become first part of UK to offer terminally ill people assistance to end their lives

• UK politics – latest updates

Scotland could become the first part of the UK to offer terminally ill adults assistance to end their lives if Holyrood approves a new bill.

The Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Liam McArthur, who tabled the assisted dying for terminally ill adults (Scotland) bill on Thursday, said “politicians are catching up with where the public has been for some time” as extensive polling for Dignity in Dying Scotland found 78% of respondents supported legalisation.

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Victoria McCloud wants leave to join litigation in supreme court appeal brought by For Women Scotland

The UK’s first transgender judge is seeking leave to join the litigation in a crucial supreme court case that could significantly affect legal protections for transgender women, the Guardian has learned.

Victoria McCloud, a senior civil judge who became the youngest person appointed as master of the high court in 2010, will make an application to intervene in the supreme court appeal brought by the campaign group For Women Scotland about the legal definition of “woman”. Interveners can put a case without being among the main parties to the litigation.

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Bill being laid before Scottish parliament could, if approved, allow people in Britain to take their own lives within the law

UK membership of Dignitas, the Swiss assisted dying association, has jumped to 1,900 people – a 24% rise during 2023 – as an assisted dying bill is laid before the Scottish parliament.

People from the UK now make up the second largest group who have signed up to the organisation, which is based near Zurich and helps people take their own lives. The largest group is currently Germans, although they can now get help to end their lives at home after a 2020 court ruling .

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Eleven found guilty of crimes against humanity after trial that heard testimony on torture, rape and forced disappearances

A court in Argentina has convicted 11 former military, police, and government officials of crimes against humanity committed during the country’s last dictatorship in a sprawling trial that heard, for the first time, about atrocities suffered by trans women.

The three-year case focused on the forced disappearances, torture, rapes, and homicides that occurred at or were connected to three clandestine detention and torture centres located in police investigative units on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. They were known as the Banfield pit, the Quilmes pit and “El Infierno” – or “hell” – by the officials who worked there.

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UK does not ‘solicit, encourage or condone’ inhumane treatment, but critics say ministerial approval system contradicts this

• UK politics – latest updates

The number of requests for UK ministerial approval of intelligence-sharing where there was a real risk of torture , unlawful killing or extraordinary rendition has more than doubled in a year.

The investigatory powers commissioner’s report outlining the rise comes after a parliamentary debate on Monday in which MPs from across the political divide questioned the adequacy of the UK’s policy on torture under the Fulford principles .

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Charlotte Proudman posted tweets critical of ruling by Sir Jonathan Cohen, a Garrick Club member

A barrister is facing disciplinary proceedings for expressing frustration at the “echoes of a boys’ club attitude” that she claims were in a family court judgment that went against her client.

Charlotte Proudman criticised a judgment of Sir Jonathan Cohen – a member of the men-only Garrick Club – over remarks he made in a family case two years ago.

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There are better ways of tackling addiction and overdoses than reverting to the tactics of a failed drugs war

Last week the home secretary, James Cleverly, announced that nitazenes are now being treated as class A drugs, his statement bookended with the usual stern rhetoric about the need to keep “these vile drugs off our streets”. The maximum penalty for selling or supplying class As is life imprisonment.

Cleverly’s decision follows the discovery that several victims of deadly drug poisonings had nitazenes in their system. Nitazenes are synthetic opioids, meaning they are similar to the heroin and morphine refined from opium poppies but made entirely in a lab. First developed as painkillers in the 1950s but never approved for medical use, they have been found mixed into heroin to give the low-grade variety of the drug that extra kick, as well as in bootleg Xanax and Valium pills sold on the dark web. Up to 500 times stronger than morphine, even a tiny amount can prove fatal.

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