‘Stem cell research offers hope we cannot ignore’

I haven’t watched the Eurovision Song Contest since Lulu boomed out her ‘Boom bang-a-bang’. I wouldn’t have watched it then either but I had a babysitter who arrived wearing a Eurovision hat, with a flag and a rattle left over from the World Cup final, who was clearly not prepared to negotiate. I protested but she tied me to the fridge. I’m over it now but I still feel a bit chilly whenever I hear Lulu.

Anyway I’m not a Eurovision fan. I like music too much. I understand that Andrew Lloyd Webber is involved this year and that there have been extensive auditions to find a singer who can lead the country to defeat and humiliation against the musical hotbed that is Latvia.

Eurovision is a soft target. Everyone knows the music is rubbish but millions will watch it and some of them will not be tied to fridges. And they don’t watch it to see what kind of pop is emerging from Serbia, do they? If we want music we look elsewhere.

Now my favourite singer ever is a little-known chap who made two albums in the 1990s and seemingly disappeared. He had a fantastic voice, with such a talented band that when he stopped singing I used the interweb to try to find out why.

It seems he is too ill to sing now. He has multiple sclerosis apparently, which is desperately sad.

It struck me that even though I didn’t know him and I won’t ever meet him, his ill health has still affected my life. We can be touched by the lives of others in many ways. The most obvious is by knowing or meeting them but another is by being touched by the importance or beauty of what they produce in the world or tragically, in the case of those with long-term conditions, by the absence of what they produce.

I mention this in the light of the ongoing debate around stem cell research and recent trials suggesting that it can control or even reverse symptoms of MS.

Stem cell research appears to be controversial for some. And objections to progress can linger if they are not fully aired and explored. If it offends the beliefs of even a minority of people then clearly we need to have an open and transparent discussion about the ethics and boundaries that underpin research.

Stem cell research promises to open the door to treatments that can not only alleviate the suffering of millions but also may even eradicate some diseases. I think we have a responsibility to ensure we do not miss the opportunity to try to do that.

Last time I said that gently to someone who disagreed, they told me I would burn in hell. One hopes the ongoing debate will be a little more constructive.

• Related article: Stemcells ‘could cure blindness’

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