Media personality Katie Hopkins claims the UK has “far too many old people” and says she would be “super keen on euthanasia vans” to eradicate the problem.
The controversial Sun columnist, who only recently apologized for the language in her inflammatory piece which referred to immigrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean as “cockroaches,” said it was “ridiculous” that animals could be put to sleep, “but not people.”
In an interview with the Radio Times, she argued although medical science allowed people to live longer, that didn’t necessarily mean it was the right path to choose.
“We just have far too many old people,” she said. “It’s ridiculous to be living in a country where we can put dogs to sleep but not people.”
“We need to accept that just because medical advances mean we can live longer, it’s not necessarily the right thing to do.”
Her solution to the problem? “Easy. Euthanasia vans – just like ice-cream vans – that would come to your home.”
“It would all be perfectly charming. They might even have a nice little tune they’d play. I mean this genuinely. I’m super-keen on euthanasia vans,” she said.
Hopkins also ruminated on the state of education, saying children were unnecessarily pampered and advocating harsher segregation of abilities.
“They split you into A and B streams, which was great because you knew you were with the bright ones and all the thick kids were in the B group,” she said of her own school days.
“It was fine and super-efficient – I still think so. If you’re slow, go sit with the slow kids. None of this endless negotiation, discussion, ‘golden time’ nonsense you get in state schools these days.”
The columnist recently sparked anger when she referred to North African migrants as “cockroaches” and “feral humans” in a column suggesting authorities use “gunships” rather than “rescue boats” to tackle the problem.
“Show me pictures of coffins, show me bodies floating in water, play violins and show me skinny people looking sad. I still don’t care,” she wrote.
Her remarks led to condemnation by UN high commissioner for human rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, who compared the column to a piece of pro-genocide propaganda.
In an interview with the Press Association, however, Hopkins said there had been “some things” in her column which “in hindsight you'd probably look to pull out of there.”