Rightminds

By the time you read this, Archie Battersbee may have died. Or he may still be clinging on to life, locked in a world where only machines keep him alive. He has been in a coma since April, when he was hospitalised after, his mother believes, attempting the 'blackout challenge', a dangerous TikTok trend that has killed at least two other children. Doctors believe Archie is brain-stem dead and, having exhausted every medical avenue over the past four months, they argued it would be better for the 12-year-old if he were allowed to die. They wanted to switch off his life-support machine and let him go in peace. However, his parents, Hollie Dance and Paul Battersbee, did not agree with this diagnosis — and a terrible battle ensued. They took their fight to keep him alive to the United Nations, to the Supreme Court and finally to the European Court of Human Rights. The latter decreed that they would not interfere with previous court rulings, bringing the parents right back to … [Read more...] about JAN MOIR: Spare a thought for the doctors who looked after Archie Battersbee so devotedly with so little thanks

Here’s another one of those stories I don’t know whether to file under Mind How You Go or You Couldn’t Make It Up. Police officers have been warned not to take their clothes off when frequenting a popular gay bar in London . Even if they are off-duty, they should keep their kit on at all times, according to an email from their inspector. Otherwise, things could turn tricky if they have to attend the club to deal with any incident in their official capacity. ‘Oh, hello constable, I didn’t recognise you in your uniform. Is that a truncheon in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?’ The email was sent to 190 PCs belonging to the ‘West End Proactive Partnership’ squad, reminding them of ‘the need to uphold standards while off duty’. It followed a report to the Met’s licensing team about an incident at the Heaven nightclub in Charing Cross, believed to relate to the G-A-Y Porn Idol competition held every Thursday, in which contestants strip off in an attempt to win a … [Read more...] about RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: Put your trousers on, copper! It’s PC Porn Idol

Can we afford to behave as we do? I don't just mean the Government, which has debauched the currency with mad spending. I mean all of us. Are we going to be able to live as we have done or is this the beginning of a major permanent decline in our living standards? I don't think there has been anything like this since the forgotten crisis of 1931, which brought down the government and split the governing party. Nobody realised just how bad things had got until a large part of the Royal Navy mutinied against pay cuts, and so forced a panic devaluation of the Pound Sterling. In modern Britain they don't need to cut anyone's pay. I said: 'Our economy is still crippled, and the overpraised Chancellor Rishi Sunak (pictured), like some beaming Dr Feelgood with a case full of dodgy stimulants, seeks to soothe the pain by huge injections of funny money' Inflation cuts it, and those who fight for pay rises to make up for it get called wreckers. I warned … [Read more...] about PETER HITCHENS: This economic crisis isn’t down to war… it’s the bill for our Covid panic – just as I foresaw