[Bonanzoid]

Pretty difficult to punish if found guilty.

[foot-loose]

She was not a well woman and her death is music's loss. There's pretty much nothing else to say.

[Johnny 1989]

Oh I always thought it was still illegal.

I think the difference with suicide in the UK & say (for example) the USA is that over here if someone attempts suicide and they fail/don't go through with it, they are taken away & assess to see what their current mental state is, whether or not it's drug influenced of if someone has mentally "gone" (I can't find a better word at present I'm afraid.) In the USA however I think it is still treated as a crime & the person is immediately arrested and charged with (I think) wasting Police time, I could be wrong but I was led to believe by a friend who had lived in the US for a short while that that was the case over there, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

[Yudster]

I think criminalizing attempted suicide is draconian and ridiculous. No one who isn't desperately unhappy and literally at the end of anything they have ever managed to hold on to would seriously try to end their life deleberately. How the hell is making them into a criminal going to help?

However. Given the so far equivocal results of the investigation into poor Amy's death, I would be surprised if suicide was the ultimate verdict. She might just have slipped over the edge - it can happen when you walk that close.

[MK Chris]

Having said all that - and I'm not disputing she had a great voice - she ruined Valerie. Sorry, but she really did - it really grates me when people seem to assume her version was the original because it wasn't and it wasn't the best version either, The Zutons version was the original and FAR AND AWAY the best. So there.

[Johnny 1989]

Having said all that - and I'm not disputing she had a great voice - she ruined Valerie. Sorry, but she really did - it really grates me when people seem to assume her version was the original because it wasn't and it wasn't the best version either, The Zutons version was the original and FAR AND AWAY the best. So there.

I agree with this, The Zutons' version is excellent and like yourself Topher it does grate with me also when they assume the Amy version is the original, he version is OK but nowhere near as great as the Zutons one

[bmstinton93]

Yes I agree, The Zutons version was a lot better

[Longview01]

Amy Winehouse is dead. Media instantly put her in the "Genius musician" bracket.
That's bullshit. She was no more than a record industry puppet at best. No one wants to see someone die young but why does it have to make them more talented/interesting/important​ than they actually were!?

[Yudster]

I don't know how manipulated by the industry she was or wasn't, but she was an outstanding talent. Most of what she produced wasn't to my taste, but she had a hell of a voice on her which she knew precisely what to do with.

[bmstinton93]

I was genuinely looking forward to new material from her as i wanted to see what she could do next to top back to black which was a truly brilliant album

[catherine]

This is pretty hard to watch


I don't understand why people would let her on stage like that? Its really sad.

[jocky85]

I never thought I'd say this but I think Russel Brand's blog post summed it up well.

[bmstinton93]

This is pretty hard to watch

I don't understand why people would let her on stage like that? Its really sad.

This is why i find it so sad. Yeah she was maybe stupid or naive to get hooked on drugs in the first place but obviously her manager and record company should have done more to help her, for example not putting her in situations like that which most likely made everything worse

[MK Chris]

I never thought I'd say this but I think Russel Brand's blog post summed it up well.

Cat showed me that last night and I too am surprised, but I agree. I have always thought it's a stupid idea to treat drug addicts like criminals... in fact I think there's a case for legalising all drugs - and taxing and regulating them properly. Currently criminals fund their empires by supplying drugs, I reckon crime would plummet if drugs were properly Government-controlled. I can see the opposite side of the argument as well, obviously, but I do think there's a case for debating it at least.

Reading the stuff on BBC news about the funeral today and about the photographers using ladders to try and see over the crematorium wall is horrible. That's so disrespectful.

Paps will always be like that though. My mum wrote a complaint to the Daily Mirror years ago when Marc Vivien-Foé died. The following day they had printed a big picture on their front page of him lying dead on the pitch; her argument was that there was no justification for it because it doesn't highlight the dangers or horrors of war, it was just a guy who had died and all the paparazzi could do was shove their * lenses towards him. It was the same when Mika Hakkinen had a horrid crash years ago and had to be stretchered into an ambulance from the side of the race circuit - all they could do was take photos and they didn't know if he was going to be OK or not. They have always been devoid of morals, they are blood-sucking leeches, scumbags devoid of all moral integrity.

[foot-loose]

I never thought I'd say this but I think Russel Brand's blog post summed it up well.

Cat showed me that last night and I too am surprised, but I agree. I have always thought it's a stupid idea to treat drug addicts like criminals... in fact I think there's a case for legalising all drugs - and taxing and regulating them properly. Currently criminals fund their empires by supplying drugs, I reckon crime would plummet if drugs were properly Government-controlled. I can see the opposite side of the argument as well, obviously, but I do think there's a case for debating it at least.

No, that's a ridiculous idea and would only make the problem worse. I could argue why but I don't have time.

[Yudster]

I never thought I'd say this but I think Russel Brand's blog post summed it up well.

Cat showed me that last night and I too am surprised, but I agree. I have always thought it's a stupid idea to treat drug addicts like criminals... in fact I think there's a case for legalising all drugs - and taxing and regulating them properly. Currently criminals fund their empires by supplying drugs, I reckon crime would plummet if drugs were properly Government-controlled. I can see the opposite side of the argument as well, obviously, but I do think there's a case for debating it at least.

No, that's a ridiculous idea and would only make the problem worse. I could argue why but I don't have time.

But that's why a debate might be a good idea. There are obviously differening views to be addressed, why not address them? I have to say my immediate response is the same as Foot's, but it wouldn't hurt to hear why other people think otherwise.

[MK Chris]

I just think you're never going to put a stop to people doing it, but if you educate people about it and then tax it and sell it in licensed places, that then starves organised criminals of a lot of valuable income. Prohibition doesn't reduce demand and if people who are minded to get these things can't get it from properly licensed places, they have to go to dealers and fund criminals - and not only that, they may be putting far more lethal things into it than would be if it was legally sold in order to make a bigger profit margin.

[Ilovematt]

This is pretty hard to watch


I don't understand why people would let her on stage like that? Its really sad.

Thank you for posting these, as you say very hard to watch.

This was the point I was trying to make about 'this' being the beginning of the end for her, where a couple of member's said "Oh no it was well before this".

Anyone with common sense can see that Amy needed help by being sectioned. How her 'people' let her continue this obvious drug/drunk concert is beyond me.

Shame on them for letting this happen.

[Sidders]

They have always been devoid of morals, they are blood-sucking leeches, scumbags devoid of all moral integrity.

People buy the papers to see these things though, if it sells papers then the photographers get paid, simple as. It reminds me of the photograph of Thich Quang Duc burning himself, it makes me wonder who in their right mind would want to take a photograph of that, but at the same time I always have a feeling of morbid curiosity with that photo, and if I saw that on the front page of a newspaper, I would want to buy it. That photo I believe won World Press Photo of the Year.

[bmstinton93]

Ooo when did this thread get stickied?

[MK Chris]

It's been re-stickied, I'm sure it was before at some point.

[jocky85]

All this on Amy Winehouse and although not famous, no 'oh no' for the poor teens and other killed by that monster in Norway.

A truly shocking 'oh no'

[Yudster]

Absolutely, but this thread was specifically about celeb deaths. I agree with you though, what a truly unbelievable thing to have happened. Layabout Yudster has friends in Oslo, who he managed to contact pretty quickly - one of them was just a couple of streets away from the bomb when it went off but he was fine. He also knew two people that were going to the conference thingy on the island, and was panicking like hell because he couldn't get hold of them for the best part of a day - they turned up safe though because one of them had been unwell so they had decided at the last minute not to go. They know lots of people who were there though, some still missing, some known dead and some fine. They are all just in shock over there.

[MK Chris]

It's an AWFUL thing to have happened, beyond comprehension but I think the response from the Norwegian government - and in particular the Prime Minister - has been amazing, it must have been so difficult, especially when he knew some of those killed personally.

[Yudster]

Some of you may have seen this on Twitter - I think it is perfect.

http://i.imgur.com/8ggzk.png