HOW long a life is enough? Is it a question that has ever crossed your mind?

For every reader who wishes to reach 100 and receive the Royal telegram, how many others are fearful of the tyranny of a long, and perhaps unhealthy, old age?

These thoughts have played on my mind before and have come tumbling back to the forefront for a number of reasons.

Firstly, it was announced this week that our life expectancy is starting to slow down after more than 100 years of continuous progress.

A baby born today is expected to live almost twice as long as its Victorian ancestors and current life expectancy is 80 for men and 83 for women.

But there is another figure behind these that tells not such a positive story and that is our healthy life expectancy.

In England, that figure is 63 years for males born between 2012 and 2014 and 64 for females. After that, the expectation is to be facing ill health until death.

Which weaves us into the second story of the week on this issue. The UK’s High Court has been asked to look again at the “right to die” issue.

The case has been brought by lawyers and supporters for Noel Conway, a 67-year-old motor neurone disease sufferer with just 12 months left to live.

York Press:

Noel Conway, 67, with his wife Carol (left), stepson Terry McCusker, and Sarah Wootton, CEO of Dignity in Dying, at the High Court

At the time of writing this column, three High Court judges were considering a request to lift the ban on assisted dying on the grounds that the 1961 Suicide Act is contrary to the Human Rights Act.

Mr Conway and his supporters argue that as a terminally-ill, mentally competent adult, his right to a private life – which includes the right to make decisions about his death – is restricted by UK law.

Currently, anyone wishing to end their life has to travel abroad to an assisted suicide clinic.

But this is expensive and can also mean people have to die sooner than they might have done at home because they need to be well enough to actually make the journey.

The majority of people in Britain think that people like Mr Conway who are of sound mind and have a terminal diagnosis should be able to choose to end their life on their terms.

I wholeheartedly agree. I believe it is our right: an absolute human right. Dying is such an important part of our life.

It is time we firmed up the notion of what is a good death and made it available to all citizens. If this were to include assisted suicide, that should be allowed.

This is not to say that everyone with a terminal illness should be helped to die. It is about choice. It should be up to the individual. Just in the way a pregnant woman writes a birth plan, a terminally-ill person could produce a death plan, that should be honoured – literally granting their dying wish.

The question of how long a life is enough is a theme in the new book, How To Stop Time, by Matt Haig, who was in York this week on a promotional tour.

His main character, Tom Hazard, has a condition that makes him age so slowly that he is actually 430 years old but looks 40.

What a brilliant way to look at this dilemma of our time: how old do we want to get, and how do we cope with the prospect of a long life, with the knowledge that many of those years will be spent in ill health?

Does Matt provide any answers? You’ll have to read the book to find out.

  • Read our interview with Matt Haig in tomorrow’s Press.