Andrew Carruthers
@a_w_carruthers
High Church Ulsterman | PhD candidate @durham_uni studying Rowan Williams’ political theology | Pro Tanto Quid Retribuamus | reading: Brothers Karamazov (Katz)
My first published article, found in the wild in @cruciblejournal - I’m arguing that the common good is a vital tool in structuring the C of E’s response to the housing crisis, and we ignore the tradition of Anglican social theology at our peril
3/ Anorexia nervosa is a mental disorder, which can lead to life-threatening physical health consequences. People with anorexia do not stop eating in order to die. And they do not stop drinking fluids, which is a defining feature of VSED. x.com/bathmatt/statu…
Okay here is a wee bit about the difference between anorexia nervosa and voluntary stopping eating and drinking (VSED) Anorexia nervosa is a mental health eating disorder in which you have a false belief or intense fear that you're a different size (eg fat) when you're actually…
A month on from the Commons vote on assisted suicide, it’s clear that quite a few MPs were confused about the bill or influenced by misinformation. Here are 10 examples:
And I didn’t think I could love him any more
Q: Lewis or JRR Tolkien? RW: CS Lewis [Me: Sharp intake of breath!]
“Awkwardly for today’s secular progressives, opposition to eugenics during its heyday in the West came almost exclusively from religious sources, particularly the Catholic Church.”
AI is a Pandora’s box. And with it comes the resurgence of beliefs we thought were long dead & boxed away. Big Tech is sneaking “eugenics” back into the modern world, through the reframing of life as “planned” & “engineered”. Article: John Gray. newstatesman.com/culture/books/…
Imagine that we weren't bolshy, or hadn't thought about these things beforehand. Imagine someone was dying and wasn't bolshy and hadn't thought about these things beforehand. 'You've got less than 6 months' *meaningful look*. #deathcreepsin
Postscript: it should not be overlooked that we have committed this sin against the dignity of all bodies in the wake of Corpus Christi.
I don’t like being snide, but anyone who says this is Parliament ‘at its best’ is clearly watching a different Parliament. This is the Commons at its most arrogant: over-confident about the ‘arc of history’ and false self-belief that this puts it on the ‘right side’ of that arc.
I will be voting against the Assisted Dying Bill today. Whatever you think of the principle of it - and there are good arguments on both sides - the proposed legislation is weak, rushed and poses more risks than safeguards…
Today in Parliament, I raised concerns about limited time for debate on proposed assisted dying legislation. I called on the Prime Minister to commit to additional protected time for thorough debate on such a significant decision for MPs.
'There is an assumption that those who have been most unequal in life will suddenly be rendered equal in death.' - @ChiOnwurah on how the AD bill risks entrenching inequalities in our care system.
This sign sums things up perfectly #assistedsuicide
Personal choice is often used as an ethical ‘get out of jail free card”, but that’s not how societies work. “This libertarian framing of the debate misses the reality of vulnerability.”
The heart of the argument, in my view (full piece here telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/…)
'Freedom for the pike is death for the minnows' is often attributed to the Christian socialist RH Tawney. Whether or not he coined it, we owe it to the most vulnerable to prioritise their safety over the autonomy of some & I am grateful to all the MPs voting in that spirit today.
The most important amendment proposed, and the most revealing moment, in this entire 7-month legislative process:
🚨 NC16 has been defeated. 261 v 208 If you meet the criteria, you will be given help to end your life even if it is because you feel you are a burden, are under financial pressure, are depressed, in insecure housing or cannot access the services you need.
Nothing progressive about this Bill at all and the language of "progressive' around this is just totally inappropriate. But it starts another conversation that's too big to get into now, but this idea of progression for progression sake is damaging our society, or what's left of…
The Speaker has confirmed that only five 'non Kim' amendments will be voted on on Friday. All these elements of the Bill are now permanent. A 'yes' vote at Third Reading is to accept: 🚨Any doctor can raise ending a patient's life, no matter how vulnerable the patient,…
At second reading, MPs were told their concerns could be sorted at committee stage. At committee, they were told that problems could be fixed at report stage. And now, they are being told that the Lords can fix the bill. The bill is unfit for purpose. Vote it down.
I’m hearing MPs are being reassured that their issues / concerns with the assisted dying Bill - such as @RCPhysicians @rcpsych saying it’s not safe - can be ‘sorted out in the Lords’. MPs - if you do not believe that the Bill as it stands on Friday is safe, don’t vote for it.
14. Hugo Rifkind has written movingly on his family’s experience and what the bill would do: “Formerly the foremost victim of the catastrophe that has hit your family, you are now the perpetrator of it. You could have ended this yesterday, for everyone, but have chosen not to.”