Lord Stevens of Birmingham (CB)

On the thrust of the argument, I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Moylan, that approaching this probabilistically, rather than with a single number, clearly makes sense. It is wonderful to hear the impact that these new immunotherapies have had in his own personal case as well as for oesophageal cancer. Just for the record, I want to associate myself with the comments of the noble Baroness, Lady Royall, because the evidence is pretty clear that there is not an association between positive thinking and cancer survival. There may be a link with quality of life, but frankly, it is perfectly normal, having had a cancer diagnosis, for people to feel depressed or anxious. The only reason for raising this very briefly at this point is that we need to be very sensitive. When somebody’s cancer progresses and ultimately kills them, we should not be leaving the impression that we think that is because they lacked the positive attitude that would in some way have enabled them to survive. I know that is not what the noble Lord was suggesting, but just for the record, I think that the noble Baroness, Lady Royall, was right to draw that to our attention, and we should be clear about that.