I'm really relieved that so far there hasn't been the explosion of anger and bitterness there might have been.

In one way that might seem trivial - worrying about how we deal with each other, when there are life and death issues being discussed. But I think that keeping the Mudcat as a space where, in between the songs, we can talk about things like this, and explain what we think and why, and understand where other people whose opinions we respect differ from us is important.

I don't think that a concept of "this is mine, I can do what I want with it" makes any moral sense, whether we are talking about our bodies or our children or our pets - or our musical instruments, and a lpot of other things, including the planet. We are custodians rather than owners. I don't think it ever makes moral sense to say "I have the right to do this" when we are talking about something that causes harm to another person. That's not the same as saying to the State or to someone else "You do not have a right to stop me from doing this." There's a distinction here which is often missed.

And there is also a big distinction between saying "This is wrong" and pointing a finger of blame at people who have got involved in it. It's the same distinction that is present when you were passionately opposed to a war, and at the same time feel solidarity with the soldiers who fought in it, and that's come up in the Mudcat from time to time as well.

As I have done before in this context, I direct people's attentions to the songs of Vin Garbutt. Here is a link to an article about him. And here's the announcement he wasn't allowed to put in his local paper when his son Tim was born:

On Sunday he was our foetus,
On Monday our son did greet us.
So through the rest of his life,
may we help him in strife.
And please, God, the world won't defeat us.