funeral
Looking on in anger: Happiness and Love, by Zoe Dubno, reviewed
A nameless woman, joining former friends after a funeral, is left speechless with fury at their vanity and pretensions
A cremation caper: Stealing Dad, by Sofka Zinovieff, reviewed
Part grief-memoir, part macabre escapade, Zinovieff’s latest book is inspired by her own father’s bizarre strictures regarding his funeral
A death, live-streamed
The strange experience of my husband’s Skype funeral
Roman funerals had real ‘emotional intelligence’
Today’s funerals, featuring shiny black hearses and top hats, lack (we are assured) ‘emotional intelligence’. Colourful coffins featuring pictures of…
Why Sodom and south Devon are a million miles apart
We gathered around in the sunshine and watched the coffin being lowered into the freshly dug trench. Stratifications visible on…
Remembering Tim Hoare – a man like no other
He was a Falstaff in his drinking and in his celebration of life, but his greatness lay in his friendships.…
What my mother’s death means for Brexit
Considerate to the last, she had her order of service arranged in her mind. I sat close with my notebook.…
Banana leaf, wood-effect on knitted? Choosing my mother’s coffin
The mental fruit of yet another sleepless night was that my mother was determined to arrange her funeral as quickly…
A very British response to a death at a funeral
Something very odd occurred at a funeral I attended last week — somebody died. I don’t mean the person who…
This Traveller funeral was the most emotional send-off I’ve ever been to
Bev died, aged 61. She was the wife of ‘Foxy’ John, kennel huntsman of our local hunt. Bev was the…
Your problems solved
Q. What can be done when more people than you can cater for accept an invitation? We are giving a…
The Spectator’s Notes
Not long after the murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich last summer, I wrote a piece in the Daily…
While Mandela lives on
The past few weeks have been an agonising dress rehearsal for the great statesman’s death
