Alexander McQueen: a commentary on death and decay
Phoebe Hoare, who’s put some really good things our way, suggests it’s time we did something on Alexander McQueen, the fashion designer. She’s quite right. It’s not as if his work does not dwell and brood on death, dying, mortality and moral blackness. Before becoming a student at Central St Martin’s, McQueen cut his teeth […]
To Know Him Is To Love Him
A bit of funerary scholarship from the sagacious Vale Of borderline relevance only to funeralists, perhaps – but the title of the song was taken by Phil Spector, who produced it, from the inscription on his father’s headstone. It’s unlikely that the same words will adorn Phil’s. Older readers will enjoy the nostalgia jolt produced […]
Everybody needs a tribe…
Guest post by Fran Hall, Chair of Trustees, the Natural Death Centre Readers of the GFG Blog are many and myriad – for the few of us who stir ourselves to comment on the superb diet served up daily by the ragged-trousered philanthropists Messrs Cowling and Honeysett, and their regular contributors, (not least the Friday […]
Care more
Posted by Vale Seth Godin has been called ‘America’s greatest marketer’. Well they go in for superlatives don’t they? But his blog – Seth’s Blog – is full of interesting ideas and reflections about the way that businesses operate. He recently blogged about caring more and what it might mean for a business: Politicians are […]
‘Moose…Indian’ – whose last words?
Posted by Vale 150 years ago yesterday Henry David Thoreau died. I’ve loved him ever since I came across his views on the first transatlantic telegraph cable. Emerson had written in praise of it, but Thoreau – with something of the prophet in him – refused to be enthusiastic simply noting that “perchance the first […]
You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows
Some advice today for aspirant funeral directors from the award-winning marketing team here at the GFG-Batesville Tower. If you want to set up as a funeral director, don’t go down the cul de sac of trad undertaking. 1) There are already too many undertakers competing for too few dead people. 2) The future’s not that way […]
Politics and funerals
A topical post from our religious correspondent, Richard Rawlinson Timed to counter the low turnout of voters at the mayoral and local council elections last week, did you catch the BBC advertisement challenging political apathy by chronicling how so many everyday activities–from the fat count in our sausages to the safety of cyclists on the […]
Thoughts of a funeral-goer
Posted by Lyra Mollington There is not a lot of enthusiasm amongst my friends for discussing funerals. Even Daisy cannot help raising an eyebrow. However there are a few people who, given the opportunity, are eager to talk, even to a virtual stranger. When Colin and I were walking on Barnes Common last weekend, I […]
Not so cunning after all?
Posted by Charles Money’s fallen on hard times. It’s not breeding like rabbits any more. What’s bad news for savings has got to be bad news for funeral plans too. Pay now, die later was never going to be a good way to go for the funeral trade because when a person buys their own […]
First-ever GFG industry awards!
The Six Feet Under Convention 2012 will pilot the first Good Funeral Guide Awards Ceremony to recognise outstanding service to the bereaved. The awards will be made in the following categories on the basis of nominations received by the general public: The Nate Fisher Award for the Most Promising New Funeral Director The Frederico Diaz Embalmer of the Year […]
