Right to die – when is it, and do you have a?
Assisted dying, self-deliverance, euthanasia and allowing people to die naturally – all these are hot topics which can only get hotter. I’ve just had this email from CareNotKilling, and anti-assisted dying org: Channel 4 are giving you the opportunity to voice your views on a series of short films about euthanasia, which are being shown on […]
Botched embalming?
Here’s a strange tale. Daniel Brennan died in Monklands Hospital, Airdrie, and was looked after Donald McLaren Ltd, est 1912. I don’t know if there was a post mortem, but we are told that Daniel’s illness was a short one. When Daniel’s mother went to see him at the funeral home she was appalled: “I […]
Thought for the day
Always Look on the Bright Side of Life played at a funeral. Children in a playground giggling about sex.
What to pack for hospital
There’s an engaging little story in January’s Funeral Service Journal describing the custom at Norwich Great Hospital, back in the medieval day, requiring those who had fallen into indigent, aged decrepitude (50+ female BBC presenters, for example) to bring with them, as their entry pass, a coffin. Not so different perhaps from today when you would […]
Coffins on the shopping channel
Newcastle undertaker Carl Marlow has, by his own accounts, been quiet for the last five years — busy building his business. For his fellow undertakers this was too good to last. Carl has never been one to take the view that the best way to achieve change is to work within the industry, and this is […]
Death in the community
Here’s an interesting idea: the café mortel, or death café. Never heard of it? No, I hadn’t either. It’s a Swiss thing, apparently. In the words of the Independent: The concept, although a little morbid, is straightforward enough – a dozen strangers meet to have a drink and talk about death for a couple of […]
The Big Hug Appeal
The good people at Cruse have asked me to tell you all about their new appeal, which will enable them to support bereaved children. Of course, I am delighted to do so. What is the Big Hug Appeal? For those struggling to cope with the loss of a loved one, the cold, dark days of […]
Pulling the plug
I know I go on about this, but I think it important. Long, long life is getting to be a problem. Thirty years ago dying was a relatively brief, often unexpected episode. Clever medics can now prolong it – intolerably and expensively. That last goodbye for most of us just keeps getting put off and […]
The International Necronautical Society
MANIFESTO We, the First Committee of the International Necronautical Society, declare the following:- 1.That death is a type of space, which we intend to map, enter, colonise and, eventually, inhabit. 2. That there is no beauty without death, its immanence. We shall sing death’s beauty – that is, beauty. 3. That we shall take it […]
Death’s a bummer
I am indebted to Nurse Myra over at Gimcrack Hospital (where the nurses are pretty and the doctors are pissed) for telling me about JBS Haldane (1892-1964). Nurse Myra does a fine line in rare people, most of them bonkers, and JBS Haldane is an outstanding specimen. Find out more at the Usual Suspect. In […]
