Roundup

Here’s a roundup of news stories I’ve tweeted in the last fortnight. It looks rather a lot — but I try never to fob you off with quantity at the expense of quality. I hate having my own time wasted, so I try hard not to waste yours. Take your pick and enjoy — or gobble the lot and gorge yourself.

Before you do, though… If you missed last night’s Dispatches on end-of-life care, do catch it on 4OD. I don’t know what you’ll think of it — or did, if you’ve seen it. For me, it was the contrast with the care given to those at the start of life that most struck me. We don’t have elders in our society, it seems, only disgusting old people.

Upgrade work at Shrewsbury crem ditched. Aren’t crems easy targets of cuts?! http://bbc.in/dK68PX

Satan’s undertaker’s online memo site is http://bit.ly/eRn1HT Is it any relation of this: http://bit.ly/ebnw8e? Wha gwan?

Priest makes off with bones of child saint – http://bit.ly/gCyKd4

“The Freudian implications of filming a sex scene in the shadow of a soaring obelisk” – http://bit.ly/g4fTKF

Some interesting #funeral industry analysis here- much that is typical – http://bit.ly/elobdS

“Now that I’m dead, I want to tell you a few things.” Last letters. I love this site – http://bit.ly/cRpFuX

DeathRef Death Reference Desk

by GoodFunerals

Happy Valentine’s Day darlings. http://fb.me/T6DJ7iOE

What’s the fuel cost of a cremation in the UK? Guess! Okay, I’ll tell you… £16.25

Lovely topical mezzotint on the Morbid Anatomy blog today – of two dissected hearts. Typical! http://bit.ly/eI5iHw

Nice wheeze for a floral eulogy here – http://bit.ly/hqaHTd

Bio-cremation “could warp metal pipes and burn crematorium workers” – http://lat.ms/i2d1m3

Bad guys always go to the funeral. That’s the place to arrest them –http://bit.ly/ekDmpj

The Top 20 Most Inappropriate Songs To Play At A Funeralhttp://youtu.be/MkYXS4CDU6Y

Really nice sendoff here culminating in a Viking funeral for the ashes – http://bit.ly/gugn2j

My Big Fat Gypsy Funeral? I’d like to see this – http://bit.ly/eYplL0

Malidoma Some and the power of ritual. A great man. Catch him here: http://bit.ly/eY9h8T

“Trad Brit stiff-upper lip has melted into a wobbling lower one.” Is modern grief incontinent? http://bit.ly/hXrfKA

Click on ‘Progressive Conservatism Project’ at the Demos website and you’ll get this: ‘That page could not be found’ !!!

“The great thing about being old is that you don’t give a bugger about people’s opinions anymore.” Dolly Frankel.

Very good booklet here from cancer.net spelling out for terminal patients their end-of-life options – http://bit.ly/fflu8r

“E’body wants a good death but not a moment too soon, but they don’t have the language to ask for it.” http://bit.ly/g3JWCW

“I knew something was terribly wrong with my marriage when I planned my husband’s funeral.” Great first line! http://bit.ly/eDVnEY

“Webcast funerals are dehumanizing – the necessity of human contact requires the physical presence of mourners.”http://bit.ly/eUYVQT

A classic illustration of the systemic incapability of corporate FDs to provide a good service – http://wapo.st/gh1pMf

Would the sale of Bretby crematorium amount to ‘privatising death’? Well, it’s a good question – http://bit.ly/ekH9jp

’26 babies buried together in a wooden box along with unidentified limbs and bones.’ They do this in the US. Shame!!http://huff.to/gaBdyu

Teacher makes her final journey in her VW camper van. Touching story, this – http://bit.ly/faIUHh

‘So recently directing medical care, now we are awkward bystanders.’ Hugely humane doctor’s response to death –http://nyti.ms/hbx8iC

RIP trolling. New to me (but maybe not to you) – http://bit.ly/hf2ikY

What’s responsible reportage and what’s voyeuristic grief porn?http://bit.ly/hIehDs

Mourning glory – the Banshee. Real or myth? Good stuff here –http://bit.ly/gY7nH4

The family is dead? 368 direct descendants at funeral of L’pool matriarch – 17 lims followed the hearse – http://bit.ly/hq6rMz

A funeral at a rugby ground. Great venue, great sendoff –http://bit.ly/gBs9F1

2 biggest comps you can pay an FD: You look nothing like an undertaker; this place is nothing like a funeral home –http://bit.ly/eKUEVm

Some very touching condolence messages on this online memorial site – http://bit.ly/e68jq3

Interesting reflections by ASD folk on weddings and funerals –http://bit.ly/eJyc8d

Great story here + pics: the funeral of racehorse Man o’ War, embalmed (23 gals) and casketed – http://bit.ly/idcYp0

StNeotsFunerals Andrew Hickson

by GoodFunerals

Our new Funeral Price Estimator is up and running online. Open and honest and proud of it.http://www.kingfisherfunerals.co.uk/costs.html

US undertaker offers end-of-life workshops. I like this.http://bit.ly/erO8zM

Love this irresistible free offer from the Neptune Society –http://bit.ly/i86PaI

‘After my sister died I went through her computer and deleted everything questionable so my parents wouldn’t find it.’http://bit.ly/fgqYzN

Online memorial site of the day: last-memories.com. Great twinkly backgrounds. And it’s free! http://bit.ly/fC1V7y

Oh dear, SCI in the doo-doo again. Are these big corps systemically inept? http://bit.ly/fPq7mh

Good piece in the HuffPo here on end-of-life planning –http://huff.to/gqZDUF

DIY suicide causes horrible death, claims EXIT. Time to legalise? http://bit.ly/ffDoI1

Oz police shut the pubs when there’s an Aborigine funeral in town. Racist? http://bit.ly/eIrtbE