Free Republic

“This is not an attempt to control what food people put in their mouths,” LA city council member Jan Perry insists, but of course the new ban on new fast-food restaurants in South LA is exactly that. Perry just wants to “diversify their food options,” but apparently doesn’t trust residents to do that for themselves and so wants to limit their options — presumably to higher-priced restaurants that may or may not open in their neighborhoods. After all, it’s not as though there is a shortage of leasing space in these parts of America’s #2 city. Nor will this help...

A seriously ill man has lost the last stage of his legal fight to insist on his right to food in the final stages of his life. Leslie Burke, from Lancaster, had his appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg rejected. Mr Burke, who has a degenerative brain condition, appealed against a UK ruling allowing doctors to decide treatment. The General Medical Council had said doctors had to be able to act in the patient's best interests. Mr Burke, 46, has cerebellar ataxia - an umbrella term for nervous system disorders that cause a lack of co-ordination,...