Debrett’s: ’Tis not the season Euthanasia lobby pushing to share engagement news deadly agenda, says bishop

ANNOUNCING an engagement or pregnancy on Christmas Day is inconsiderate because it ruins the enjoyment for everyone else, a Debrett’s expert has claimed.

Liz Wyse, the editor of Debrett’s, has warned anyone planning a grand proclamation on Monday that it risks showing a lack of respect to family and friends in their company.

The warning comes amid claims from jewellers that increasing numbers of young couples are declaring they are engaged using festive decorations because they “make for better social media photographs”.

Ms Wyse said: “It is disrespectful and very inconsiderate to shine the floodlight on yourself and to interrupt everyone’s enjoyment of the day.

“You’re essentially elbowing people to one side – some might think announcing big news is the cherry on the Christmas cake, but it’s really piling too much on to the Christmas bonanza.”

The etiquette expert compared the announcement of big news on Christmas Day to people who propose to their partner at their graduation.

“There’s this element of upstaging – ‘forget about your big day, it’s all about me!’ Christmas is a convivial celebration. Spending time with family should be the priority,” added Ms Wyse.

Sales of engagement rings are up 85 per cent this December, compared with last year, according to retailer John Lewis.

Jo Bryant, an etiquette tutor, advised holding the news until later in the season. “Whilst you may be excited to share the news, it may be best to only share with your very nearest and dearest rather than broadcasting across social media,” she said.

If the news is announced later, it also

‘There’s this element of upstaging – “forget about your big day, it’s all about me!”’

presents another opportunity to celebrate and to spend time with friends and family.

“After Boxing Day, most people actually start to feel quite flat and worn out, so saving the news until then can make it more impactful,” Ms Bryant said.

A recent study found that one in five people in the UK would hate to receive a call from friends or family announcing an engagement and a further 17 per cent said news of a baby was not something they wanted to know about on Christmas Day.

A BISHOP has accused the “sinister euthanasia lobby” of pushing “a deadly agenda”.

In his Christmas homily, the Rt Rev Mark Davies, the Bishop of Shrewsbury, will warn against distorting Christian values of mercy to push for changes in the law regarding assisted suicide and euthanasia.

The bishop, a Catholic, will say that “it seems especially sinister that the euthanasia lobby should choose this moment of the year to advance its deadly agenda” when he delivers his midnight mass homily. He will add that the “euthanasia lobby” is using the Christian values of “compassion” and “mercy” to “speak of medical killing”.

“Christianity led us to care for the weakest and most vulnerable, euthanasia proposes a new morality where the light of Christ no longer guides us,” he will add.

His comments follow Dame Esther Rantzen’s remarks that she may wish to end her life at the assisted dying clinic Dignitas in Switzerland. The TV presenter and founder of anti-abuse charity Childline is currently receiving care for stage four lung cancer.

Writing in this week, Dame Esther said while she was able to give her dog, Marmite, a quick and painless death, this was not the case for her husband, Desmond Wilcox, nor her mother. She wrote: “We have marvellous drugs that extend life, I’m on a new one at the moment and so far it’s working well; we also have drugs which can end life painlessly. Don’t I have the right to them, too?”

Some politicians have suggested that the 1961 Suicide Act, under which assisted suicide may be punished by up to 14 years’ imprisonment, should be abolished or amended, with both Michael Gove and Mel Stride suggesting the law should be revisited.

Sir Keir Starmer has also said that he personally believed that “there are grounds for changing the law”.

In June, Dignitas said that those suffering mental health problems had just as much right to die as those who were physically unwell. Silvan Luley, a Dignitas team member, said it was “about time” that the UK legalised assisted dying and that people with mental illness were competent to make the decision to end their lives.

Speaking to MPs, he said: “The law in Switzerland, and also by the way in the UK, says that everyone is assumed to have capacity ... Nobody needs to prove that they are competent, but the other way around. The starting point is people are competent and people have the right to decide about their end of life.”