Every week we receive a magazine from the Local Government Association which usually find's it's way into our recycling bin with some alacrity.

 

However this week a letter from journalist and cancer campaigner Lyne Faulds Wood caught our attention.

 

She highlighted that the "take up" of the NHS bowel cancer screening kits, sent out to people aged 60 and over, is low.

 

This is especially true in poorer areas and with men.

 

Potentially life saving information on this condition can be found on Lynn's Bowel Cancer Campaign Website or via e mail at info@bowelcancer.tv

 

It's well worth a look & might just save a life.

I have to confess that until today I hadn't heard of this terrible medical condition and one's heart has to go out to Tony & Jane Nicklinson.

 

A few months ago I commented on Sir Terry Pratchett's inspired lecture entitled "Shaking Hands With Death" that thoughtfully covered so many of the issues linked to what could be broadly called "the right to die".

 

This is such an emotive issue and people will have such a wide range of views that I really don't envy the Director of Public Prosecutions in dealing with Mr Nicklinson's submission.

 

For what it's worth, I sit firmly in the camp of allowing a person with a terminal condition to end their life in a dignified way - subject to appropriate legal safeguard's being in place.

 

Ever since watching my own fathers life end with an incurable brain tumour, that progressively destroyed his personality and intellect, I have been convinced that there are occasions when it is right to allow a person to have the right to choose the time & place to end their life, if necessary with assistance from a loved one.

 

Recent family events have strengthened my opinion on this.

 

It somehow seems strange that we are allowed to make so many "big" decisions during our lives but that the state & it's laws doesn't allow for us to take the ultimate decision.

 

I fully appreciate that many people will totally disagree with me on this and I totally respect their views.

 

I do wonder though if we can truly call ourselves a compassionate society when we allow so many people to end their days "existing" rather than living.

Another well thought out missive in this weeks Mercury from Mr Cheetham.

 

Of course, with some research he would have known that Mr Walker is unlikely to buy any sort of champagne as he doesn't drink alcohol.

 

 

A letter from Allison Lacey-Norris in this weeks Mercury concerning the Green Waste Plus scheme caught my eye today.

 

 

 

What concerns me about this letter is that the really important message that food waste will continue to be collected weekly in purple sacks (if the resident chooses to put food waste in the sacks) hasn't been understood.

 

The Green Waste Plus scheme will give residents a choice of how they dispose of their food waste - either by continuing to put it out for weekly collection in their purple sack, by putting it into the wheelie bin for fortnightly collection or by mixing and matching the 2 options.

 

I quite understand concerns about moving to a fortnightly collection of food waste - I certainly don't support this and will oppose any such proposal.

 

Ms Lacy-Norris is quite right to flag concerns about vermin & unpleasant smells, especially in the Summer months.

 

However these problems shouldn't arise because there remains a weekly collection of household waste (including food) in the purple bags.

 

Judi & myself have talked about this scheme and will probably take a pragmatic approach so that in the 7 days before the wheelie bin collection we will put our food waste in the wheelie bin.

 

For the 7 days after the wheelie bin collection we will put food waste into the purple sacks.

 

That way we will increase our recycling and have a weekly collection of the potentially smelly, unpleasant food waste.

 

A positive thing about the Green Waste Plus service is that cardboard will now be collected from homes - this has been a frequent request from residents and it's good to see that the new service will accommodate this need.

 

I guess that as with any new scheme it will take residents a while to get used to it but after a few weeks people will figure out the approach that works best for them.

In spite of the recent anti British rhetoric from Obama and his administration I feel compelled to wish our American friends well as they celebrate the declaration of their independence from Great Britain.

 

 

Although the current incumbent President is clearly less Anglophilic than any of his recent predecessors the fact remains that strong and amicable US - UK relations are important.

 

After all, what other country in Europe helps America fight its wars in quite the same way as we do?