Given the demographic of much of its remaining readership, it may be considered odd that the New Statesman wants oldies to shuffle off this mortal coil. But strangely, that’s what it’s done in this week’s edition.
Under the headline “Let them die: the case for assisted dying”, Oli Dugmore, the former editor of punchy young person’s website Joe, calls for the elderly to be allowed to snuff it in dignity on the basis that they just mope around and watch lowbrow TV all day anyway.
“All over the country our elders sit in cell blocks bathed in the stupefying light and sound of Bargain Hunt, Location, Location, Location, Tipping Point, unvisited by relatives who are preoccupied by the rhythm of their lives, or perhaps unable to summon the courage to witness the degeneration of the once totemic figures of their lives, their mum and dad. Let them die,” he wrote.
Suggested Reading
Michael Gove’s history lesson
The piece went down about as well online as one would expect, with it being variously described as “needlessly provocative and badly written”, “pathetic clickbait”, “one of the worst articles I have read on assisted dying”, “disgusting” and “an abhorrent disgrace”. One reader made the gentle suggestion that the Staggers shouldn’t let “someone as intellectually feeble as Oli Dugmore make an argument on a subject so serious”.
Ben Stanley, an associate professor at SWPS University in Warsaw, wrote on BlueSky: “This is truly revolting, and the New Statesman should be ashamed of itself for having let it get anywhere near publication. There is a case for assisted dying, and offensive drivel like this only harms it.” Sunder Katwala of the British Future think tank called the piece “a terrible thing to write and a terrible thing to publish.” For the New World’s James Ball, “At best, it reads as shallow, thoughtless, and callow.”
Yet despite all this criticism, the Statesman has at least managed to capture much-sought-after attention on social media. Perhaps the next stage for the title is copying what its right wing rival the Spectator did this week, and have a cosy sitdown with Andrew Tate and his brother? Unsurprisingly, the credulous Freddy Gray concluded: “[They] seem to have a knack for getting into trouble… Are the Tates really that bad, though?… Perhaps I am gullible, or toxically male, but I can’t help believing them.”
Most popular
Paul Marshall, the man who owns the right
Have we reached peak podcast?
Reform’s poll lead will shrink
Student antisemitism and the socialism of fools
