Has anybody noticed that this week saw a grim anniversary, the 50th anniversary of the last execution (by hanging of course, we prefer death to come by the gallows rather than the guillotine or garrot as do the French and other Continentals such as the Spanish or by lethal injection, the gas chamber and the electric chair as do our cousins across the pond)? In August 1964, only a minority of countries in the world were abolitionist, now the vast majority of nations have outlawed the death penalty(including even Putin's Russia!)

The question is: how long will the United States remain a member of the dwindling membership of the "death club"( charter members Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, China, Cuba, Vietnam and North Korea)?.

Given the recent spate of "botched" executions due to untried chemicals( the EU has banned the sale of chemicals used in lethal injection, the US's favoured form of state mandated death- there is even an execution chamber in Guantanamo, although NOBODY has been sentenced to death by either federal court or "military commission" at the time of writing), the end of capital punishment in the US may come quicker than anybody anticipates!