Maintain the Barriers - It's worth it

In the latest of a series of similar cases, a 72-year-old retired nurse who suffocated his wife, who suffered from haemo-cromatosis, has been given a three-year conditional discharge (The Independent, 3rd September 2005).

Judges appear to endorse this rough-and-ready method of dealing with an intolerable situation, which is of course the cheapest. Social care is no longer the responsibility of the NHS, thanks to the minority report of an advisory committee, written by Lord Joffe.

The Law Commission is set to reconsider the ban on "Mercy Killing." But there is a danger in failing to maintain and strengthen the traditional barriers against the sea of barbarism, as the tragedy of New Orleans showed. Barbarity can take us over very quickly.

Kristallnacht led to worse breaking of glass, in the end.