Yesterday’s news
Iraqi gravediggers are counting their blessings as civil war rages. One said: “To be honest about it, it makes us happy to do this job. We make a lot of money.” Suicide bombers are especially good for business. Another undertaker said “Many are incomplete. It depends what the family find. Sometimes we get just a leg […]
Who cares what you think?
I was rung up last year by a newbie undertaker who wanted the GFG to endorse his business. He had opened up in a small market town which already has a respected and established undertaker. Was he aiming to do anything different? No. Had he worked out the size of the market? No. It wouldn’t […]
Death with Dignity plc
Dignity has just published its results for the 52 week period ending 25 December 2015. You can study them here. Headline figures for readers of this blog are: Profit per funeral: £1045 – a margin of almost 42%. This was in spite of the fact that: “Approximately 24 per cent of the funerals performed in […]
Over to you!
We recently wrote to BBC R4’s Last Word programme suggesting they include more ordinary people – local heroes, we called them – here. We said: “The stories of those of our fellow-citizens who have lived and struggled and won some and lost some are moving and inspiring. All priests and funeral celebrants know this, […]
Something old, something news
In Wales a car crashed into a funeral procession killing the horse that was pulling the hearse – http://bit.ly/1QHl2Av The CDAS newsletter is out, full of good things. If you’re not already a subscriber, sign up – http://bit.ly/1LO2aZf Dead women are being dug up in China to be corpse brides for dead bachelors – http://bit.ly/1oHItNv This inspired London […]
No place like home? Really?
Seventy per cent of us want to die at home. This rounded figure was obtained using a methodology which funeral industry practitioners may find strikingly odd: namely, by asking people what they want. It is therefore an informative statistic. If you’re one of the thirty per cent who are happy to die in a hospital, you’re […]
Goings on in the death zone
Some of the stories in the news last week. The Daily Telegraph took consumer journalism to an all-time low here A peek inside Melbourne’s oldest funeral home here Find out about the excellent Free Funeral Services Society in Burma here. Moving video here. Residents of Lagos were inconvenienced by a corpse at their bus stop – […]
What they think of you
Hat tip to the Fisher King (I’m in pieces, bits and pieces) Since you left me and you said goodbye (I’m in pieces, bits and pieces) All I do is sit and cry (I’m in pieces, bits and pieces) You went away and left me misery (I’m in pieces, bits and pieces) And that’s the […]
Wag goodbye to his lordship
Lord Avebury, the Liberal Democrat peer who died on Valentine’s day was noted for the eccentricity of some of his views. He was a conventional supporter of assisted suicide but his expressed preferences for his disposal raised eyebrows. He was the only person to have his body rejected by Battersea Dogs Home. A keen environmentalist, […]
Let’s hear it for our local heroes
Friday’s Times had an article about Matthew Bannister of BBC R4’s obits programme Last Word (Fridays at 4.00 pm). You listen to it? Of course you do. Who doesn’t? Here’s what the article said: When Bannister, who had been a high-profile radio presenter and media executive for many years, was asked by Mark Damazer, controller […]
