http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/michael-cook/ Michael Cook did a BA at Harvard and an incredibly long cadetship at the Sydney Morning Herald’s subs desk changing semi-colons into commas. After wandering aimlessly through life he stumbled upon bioethics during a decade of bushwalking in Hobart. Eventually he climbed the greasy pole and became one of the world’s approximately two bioethics journalists. His op-ed contributions have been published in most Australian papers and in the UK and US. He edits an on-line bioethics newsletter, BioEdge, and an internet magazine, MercatorNet, from Melbourne. Apart from barracking for Collingwood, he has no criminal record. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/nurses-not-neutral-on-lethal-needle/ With the battle over legalised euthanasia touch and go in South Australia and Tasmania, the president of the Australian Nursing Federation, Coral Levett, has taken the extraordinary step of personally endorsing it. Not that she has done much thinking for herself. Writing in last month’s Australian Nursing Journal, Ms Levett recycled a Powerpoint presentation given last year by the vice-president of NSW Dying With Dignity, Sara Edelman. Most of the paragraphs in her editorial reproduced the slides almost word for word. (To be fair, she does acknowledge Edelman’s “assistance”.) In one of the few original bits, Ms Levett says, “I urge all nurses and midwives to actively participate in the VE [voluntary euthanasia] debate”. But after reading her screed, there is only possible side nurses could take: Unconditional support. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Michael Cook) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/nurses-not-neutral-on-lethal-needle/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/nurses-not-neutral-on-lethal-needle/#item5575 Wed, 06 Apr 2011 19:50:18 +0000 Michael Cook | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dr-death-makes-suicide-a-laughing-matter/ Jim Carrey. Ricky Gervais. Adam Sandler. Steve Martin. All well-known funny men. Well, move over, guys. Philip Nitschke, the world’s best-known euthanasia activist, is considering a career change. Life must have been pretty dreary for Nitschke lately. He has spent the last fortnight or so touring the British Isles in the dead of winter, touting his message of suicide on demand. It must be a bit demoralising to give a passionate lecture to a sea – a pond actually – of blue rinsed and bald heads in chilly local halls week after week. But things are looking up. Dr Nitschke is contemplating a career as a stand-up comedian. No, this is not, repeat, not a joke. He told the newspaper Wales on Sunday, “There is a proposal to do some sort of stage stand-up comedy. It will be comedy associated with the issues of death and dying directed more at entertainment, that’s what we are looking at.” feedback@thepunch.com.au (Michael Cook) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dr-death-makes-suicide-a-laughing-matter/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dr-death-makes-suicide-a-laughing-matter/#item5273 Wed, 02 Mar 2011 19:45:03 +0000 Michael Cook | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/peter-singer-the-jerry-springer-of-philosophy/ The Jerry Springer of modern philosophy was in good form when he addressed a packed crowd on Wednesday evening in the Great Hall of the University of Sydney. Peter Singer, now a professor at Princeton University in the US, was back in his native Australia for a visit. Most philosophers count themselves lucky if their mother appreciates their work. But Singer is regarded - by journalists, at least - as the most influential living philosopher. In fact, at Sydney Uni, he was introduced with the fulsome praise normally reserved for superannuated television stars: “If we had a collection of national living treasures, Peter would certainly stand tall amongst them.” feedback@thepunch.com.au (Michael Cook) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/peter-singer-the-jerry-springer-of-philosophy/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/peter-singer-the-jerry-springer-of-philosophy/#item5107 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 19:53:00 +0000 Michael Cook | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/latest-push-for-mercy-killings-uninformed/ Once again euthanasia activist Dr Philip Nitschke is playing games with the law. Today he’s holding a meeting in Hobart to instruct listeners in the finer details of how to dispatch themselves quickly and painlessly.  Dr Nitschke has become an Olympian at skating on thin legal ice. For years he has been pirouetting around Australian police after friends of his received a few words of friendly advice and killed themselves. He was recently grilled by immigration officials in the UK before he was allowed to do a whistle-stop tour for geriatric crowds around the country. He’ll be touring the US in September.  Because he is not actually killing people, just instructing them on how they can kill themselves, he appears to be acting within the letter of the law. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Michael Cook) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/latest-push-for-mercy-killings-uninformed/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/latest-push-for-mercy-killings-uninformed/#item375 Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:55:36 +0000 Michael Cook | Author bios | The Punch