This is the thing we so rarely talk about: The role of NGOs, think tanks charities and pressure groups to improve political debate. Was crucial today, but all took place in the background.
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Andrew Copson
Today I feel both for and against, all serious major points on assisted dying got good airing. Given this was not a government but a Private Members’ Bill, that fact stands to enormous credit of civil society on both sides who briefed & resourced a major debate with expertise and skill.
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I know that there are many people genuinely afraid of the grave potential for misuse of “assisted dying” & I don’t dismis their concerns
But it could explain why something was finally debated in good faith for once, without confusion and mass hysteria.
The quality of debate on AD highlights the best of representative democracy.
The free vote removed party and partizan concerns. A referendum is the anaethema to that quality.
Tufton Street has destroyed the credibility of think tanks, making them nothing more than partisan lobbyists, instead of useful contributors to political debate.
BBC have been extremely lax in this.
It's been a playground for too long