Leaders | The sense of an ending

The rights and wrongs of assisted dying

Britain’s next great social reform is coming. Here’s how it should work

A silhouette of a hospital patient looking into bright white light

image: Hokyoung Kim

Apr 11th 2024

Britain has become a much more liberal country in recent decades. In 1981 only 12% of Britons thought that homosexuality was justifiable, according to the World Values Survey; in 2022 the figure was 66%. Over the same period the proportion of people who were accepting of divorce rose from 18% to 64%. Where the public has led, politicians have followed: same-sex marriages were legalised in 2013; no-fault divorces became possible in 2022. That pattern may well be about to repeat itself with assisted dying.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline “Assisted dying”