Jonathan Dimbleby writes movingly of the death of his brother Nicholas in last week’s issue of the New Statesman (Personal Story, 5 December). But when it comes to the issue of assisted dying, I listen to the views of those with more experience of death – namely, palliative care doctors. Palliative care is a branch of medicine that optimises quality of life and pain relief rather than prolongation of life. In Wales, where the Senedd will soon consider whether or not to give its consent to clauses of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, palliative care doctors are arguing the bill is bad policy. The provision of palliative care across the UK is inadequate but particularly so in Wales, where a quarter of the population does not have access to local hospice beds. Palliative care clinicians there argue patients will choose premature death because they fear that they have no realistic alternative if palliative care is not available. Much is made in the debate around assisted dying about the ability to choose, but is it really providing people with a choice?
Eleri Cubbage, Peterston-super-Ely, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales
Lording over popular will
Jonathan Dimbleby (Personal Story, 5 December) undoubtedly speaks for the majority in his excoriating analysis of the sixth-form debating games in the House of Quangocrats. We are now reaping what we have sown: a grotesque circus still claiming to be a parliamentary democracy. There is no pretence of a justification for the Lords. Our MPs are silent on the urgency of Lords reform, many simply awaiting their turn there when they lose their elected status.
John Crawley, Beverley, East Yorkshire
Jonathan Dimbleby makes as good a case for the abolition of the House of Lords as I can remember (I am 82). Being “promoted” to the “Upper House” is supposed to be a privilege, to be exercised through careful scrutiny to improve, as necessary, legislation drafted by the elected chamber. It is not an opportunity for self-indulgence and sabotage of the popular will. The filibuster of the assisted dying bill should lead to the Lords’ abolition and replacement by a body of elected members answerable to an electorate.
Noel Hamel, New Malden, Greater London
Book smarts
What a well-chosen gathering of writers and guests, choosing their favourite reading for 2025 (Cover Story, 5 December). Between them, 51 identified a total of 108 titles, with Daniel Kehlmann’s The Director appearing as the most popular. The outcome is a tribute to the variety of your friends and the breadth of their reading, allied with the publication of so many interesting books.
Peter Barnes, Milton Keynes
I very much enjoyed your “Books of the year” and have ordered several of the recommended titles. The contribution that gave me most pleasures was that of David Lammy. His opening, “As foreign secretary and now as Deputy Prime Minister, I’ve kept coming back to…” amused me greatly. These unnecessary words demonstrated a self-importance worthy of Mr Collins (Pride and Prejudice) or even Mr Pumblechook (Great Expectations). I had not realised that Lammy possessed such literary talent.
Chris Morris, Kidderminster, Worcestershire
A pleasure in reading your annual “Books of the year” feature is imagining the connections between your contributors and the authors they recommend. They might share literary interests or educational backgrounds, or perhaps they have an agent or publisher in common. This year, Richard Holmes recommended Ian McEwan’s What We Can Know. He failed to mention that his name appears in the book’s acknowledgements and there are glowing references to him within the novel itself. Modesty, or space limitations, must surely explain these omissions.
Bernard Carter, Marlow, Buckinghamshire
Much ado about budgeting
Will Dunn’s take on the Budget hullabaloo (The Sketch, 5 December) epitomised the clear-eyed quality of his work. His demolition of a phenomenon that was created by and for Westminster’s scribblers, podcasters, politicians and their hangers-on was an absolute delight. The obsessions of these people are so remote from the everyday issues facing voters, is it any wonder that so many feel so marginalised? Am I alone in finding this whole charade intolerably patronising?
Bob Ferguson, Fareham, Hampshire
Odes to Simon Winder
Simon Winder’s Diary (5 December) was the most moving one I have read this year. The fact that he has come to terms with his Alzheimer’s diagnosis with such grace, and indeed a certain positivity, was so encouraging to other people going through this stage. Alzheimer’s is such a mean-spirited and devious disease, and to receive that news at his comparatively young age is cruel. I hope the trajectory of this disease will allow him more time to write in such a hopeful and uplifting spirit.
Judith A Daniels, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk
I have greatly enjoyed Simon Winder’s books Germania, Danubia and Lotharingia. I would like to read his inimitable take on “Francia”, too! I shall relish his Anglia, which I’m sure he will complete. I’ve lost count of the number of times authors have paid lavish compliments to his editorial skills in prefaces, acknowledgements or introductions. Thank you, Simon, for helping us all face up to the possibility of dementia.
Colin Richards, Spark Bridge, Cumbria
A fraction of the time
Sally Litherland makes an excellent suggestion about signing off with our ages instead of location (Correspondence, 5 December). Perhaps, like children, we should also sign off with the fraction of the year we have worked through.
Rob Cadman, 37 and nearly ½
Keeping up with the car-dashians
I loved Finn McRedmond’s astute observation (Silver Spoon, 5 December): “In downwardly mobile Britain, it’s becoming harder for the upper middle to signal status. The expensive cheese, the fish, the lectures in ancient meat curation: it’s all a way of saying, ‘Hey – I’m still in the game.’”
Years ago, rentiers bought huge single-family homes in our area to build blocks of expensive, ugly flats. Today, the only avenue for our area’s upwardly mobile aspirants – forced by crazy house prices to rent – to show they’re still competing is to lease or credit-purchase the latest, greatest car. Streets I cycle round are littered with Chinese, Korean, Japanese, German, Italian, French, Czech, Swedish and Romanian cars, many recharging. Bring back the days when in the 1980s, working locally, I could pop in to Harrods Food Halls for an affordable and tasty steak-and-kidney pie for lunch.
David Murray, Wallington, Surrey
In praise of Pippa
I want to thank Pippa Bailey for her columns this year and the one on six months of grief in particular, which resonated so deeply with me (Deleted Scenes, 28 November). The dividing line she speaks of came for me what feels like a lifetime ago, when, as an 18-year-old, I lost my mother to cancer. She has the scale of it right: grief is cosmic. And even now, at 55, I too find myself wondering if I ever quite grasped the reality of what happened. It felt like a total eclipse and sometimes I think it’s been partial, at least, ever since.
I too have been – or seemed to have been – supremely resilient since the age of 18. Mostly. Given the general British disposition on the matter, it may simply have been learned behaviour on my part, rather than the bravery I sometimes congratulated myself on. But it took decades to realise the disadvantage bound up in that. I hope Pippa doesn’t ever convince herself that her column is a self-indulgence of any kind.
Kevin Heaney, Walworth, Greater London
I wanted to thank Pippa Bailey for her brilliant writing on grief. I also lost my dad this year, and her words are moving but full of hope. As a music fan I’m also fascinated by M— and the kind of music he plays. After learning that she attended the Union Chapel to see the former Men at Work lead singer, and that M— loves Mark Knopfler, I’ve switched theories from 6 Music-style alternative pop to late-night Radio 2 adult-orientated rock.
Rob Grew, Birmingham
The folden rule
Could someone at the New Statesman please buy Tom McTague a bookmark (Editor’s Note, 5 December). Hopefully, he will then stop defacing books by folding down pages.
Ernest Murison, Aberdeen
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[Further reading: The day the establishment died]
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This article appears in the 12 Dec 2025 issue of the New Statesman, All Alone: Christmas Special 2025
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