At the end of this month, on 29 November, MPs will debate Kim Leadbeater’s “Choice at the End of Life” bill to allow assisted suicide for those with “unbearable suffering” and a limited time to live. It is, she says, “stringent” and includes a cooling-off period of an unspecified duration.

The measure sounds reasonable and moderate, and very different from the situation in Belgium, where those with dementia may be euthanised, or Canada where the provisions for assisted suicide have recently been extended to those suffering solely from a mental health condition.