Words, words, words
First posted by Charles on 9 Feb 2010 I’m putting this back up as a contribution to recent debates started by Jose and Richard. Following my post about the ineptitude and ineffectiveness of words, I stumbled on this piece in the Sydney Morning Herald. It’s actually about citizenship ceremonies, but you’d never guess it from […]
Euphemisms 1: Officials and officiousness
Posted by Vale Euphemisms are all about not facing up to reality. We like to think we use them for good reasons, but they have a darker side too. This poem, written by Harold Pinter in 1997, uses one of the words we often shy from, yet it too is a euphemism. It was written […]
Bagga man
Posted by T Roll ok right so who are you realy mr charles cowling you claim to be some witer than wite hollier than thou consumer advocate well weres your conflic of intrest uh ill tell you and all youre readers YOU ARE A SECCRET UNDERTAKER YOU ARE A WITED SEPULHCRE YOU ARE A FRAUD!!!! […]
Should the British mourn or celebrate their dead?
Posted by Jose Antonio Estevez Garcia When my best friend died at the age of 38 it was a drama – not only his unexpected loss but also his funeral which, far from helping us to face that moment, only added more pain to those grievous days. The reason is quite simple: when Angel died his […]
We’d all be better off if we stopped believing in belief
Following last week’s great debate between the GFG religious correspondent, various unbelievers and a handful of don’t-knows [here] it was gripping this morning to sip tea in bed and listen to John Gray arguing that ‘we’d all be better off if we stopped believing in belief’. The ten-minute talk can be heard once more […]
Deathbed visions
In her latest blog post, Sue Brayne, author of the D-Word: Talking About Dying, describes a recent meeting of the Churches’ Fellowship for Psychical and Spiritual Studies. Sue worked with Dr Peter Fenwick in researching into end-of-life experiences (ELEs). Here’s a taster: Our end-of-life experience study included over 800 extraordinary accounts from relatives, nurses, doctors […]
Wring out your dead
Posted by Charles Yesterday (15 September) Hilary Benn asked this question in the House: May we have a statement on reports that the Government propose to ask bereaved relatives, including those on low incomes, for payment when they go to register the death of a loved one? The charge, estimates of which vary from £100 […]
Oh bits from obits
Posted by Jeanne Rathbone Noel Coward said funerals were the cocktail party of his set. James Joyce called them funforals and GB Shaw said ‘ Life does not cease to be funny when people die any more than it ceases to be serious when people laugh’. I am a Humanist celebrant and have conducted hundreds of […]
Britain’s Youngest Undertaker
Posted by Charles Did you see Britain’s Youngest Undertaker on BBC3? It’s on the iPlayer and it’s worth a look It’s a documentary which follows Mike Ryan’s funeral business in Newport through the awkward experiment of testing the vocation and aptitude of his younger daughter, Rachael. For Mike, this is all about legacy. He’s sixty […]
A picture tells a thousand lies
The Daily Mail captioned a photo of the Mark Duggan funeral A salute to a ‘soldier’: Mourners lined the streets and raised their palms to say farewell to the father-of-four. Implicit was the allegation that this was a gangster salute, something guaranteed to send surges of fear and loathing through the indignation-hungry hearts of its chav-porn-addicted […]
