But the single overwhelming reason why jails are bursting is longer sentences given for more crimes.
Polly Toynbee

But instead of standing up for reason, our government is handing education over to the world of faith.
Polly Toynbee

The best care on earth cannot prevent us all dying in the end.
Polly Toynbee

People want the right to die at a time of their own choosing. Too many families have watched helplessly as a relative dies slowly, longing for death.
Polly Toynbee

So what really works? Treatments in jail do some good, but it's mostly too late: finding a family and a job or just growing older make most prisoners eventually give up crime.
Polly Toynbee

My mother begged doctors to end her life. She was beyond the physical ability to swallow enough of the weak morphine pills she had around her. When she knew she was dying I promised to make sure she could go at a time of her choosing, but it was impossible. I couldn't help.
Polly Toynbee

But how odd that in this heathen nation of empty pews, where churches' bare, ruined choirs are converted into luxury loft living, a Labour government - yes, a Labour government - is deliberately creating a huge expansion of faith schools.
Polly Toynbee

One in six people suffer depression or a chronic anxiety disorder. These are not the worried well but those in severe mental pain with conditions crippling enough to prevent them living normal lives.
Polly Toynbee