Bookmarks (33)

An intrepid expert with dozens of books to his name, Stéphane Bourgoin was a bestselling author, famous in France for having interviewed more than 70 notorious murderers. Then an anonymous collective began to investigate his pastOne night in the early 1990s, at a dinner party at his home in Paris, Stéphane Bourgoin, an author and bookseller then of no particular renown, began to hold...

It was my first day on a local paper when I went to visit a bereaved family with a seasoned reporter. It shaped all the values I took into my journalistic careerI was 19 when, in September 1987, I got a fortnight’s work experience on my local free newspaper, the Kingston Guardian, in south-west London. It was a small but dedicated team of reporters...

Boys and young men neglected in efforts to tackle mortality in 10- to 24-year-olds, Lancet report says, with a failure to address violence, substance use and accidentsBoys and men are more likely than women to die as teenagers or young adults, according to new research that warns the gender gap in mortality rates for that age group is widening in many countries.In 2019, boys...

From an early age, she encouraged me to be strong, physically and mentally. Those gifts helped me through the day we buried herMy mum was a PE teacher and coach. One of her early gifts was to help me feel like a physically capable female. For the couple of years before she died, my body had taken a battering, with illness and major surgery,...

An overwhelming majority of MPs voted in favour of the laws, after an emotional three-day debateGet our free news app; get our morning email briefingQueensland has passed laws that will allow voluntary assisted dying for people with a terminal illness, with an overwhelming majority of MPs voting in favour.The state – often perceived as Australia’s most socially conservative – becomes the fifth Australian jurisdiction...

NSW police say people were in breach of public health orders as four men arrested at Rookwood cemeteryFollow our Covid live blog for the latest updatesNSW Covid vaccination rate by postcode – check your suburbNSW restrictions; border restrictionsCovid vaccine rollout and rates tracker; cases, trends and data trackerGet our free news app; get our morning email briefingIn Islam, it is essential that the dead...

The Broadway favourite, who died of complications from Covid last summer, is remembered by his wife and co-starWhen you’re on Broadway and suddenly find out that your show is closing, you feel this wave of sadness. As a cast member, there was nothing you could have done to save it. You didn’t write the script; you didn’t call the shots. You just had to...

Computer outage, staff shortages and pandemic disruption causing turmoil for families and businesses in England and WalesThe Home Office was accused last night of causing “turmoil for families” after a failure in its online system for registering births, deaths and marriages created frustration and anger across England and Wales.As people reported being unable to register their important “life events” – with resulting disruption to...

You articulate it as worrying about his health, but I think it goes deeper than that, says Annalisa BarbieriI’m in my late 40s and have a brother who is a couple of years younger than me. He’s been happily married for almost 20 years and has a lovely daughter, who is in her early teens.Some years ago, he was treated for cancer (he has...

After the deaths of her son and husband, Rhian Mannings emerged slowly from grief to start a charity and find love again. What does her experience tell us about how suffering can change us?In February 2012, Rhian was a happy, busy wife, mother of three and a PE teacher in Cardiff. She and her husband, Paul, had met on a blind date in their...

I’ve long nursed vague plans of moving back to China for a few years, to solidify my place there. But with each year that passes in the US, such a move gets harder and harder to makeMy grandfather died on 25 August 2020, Chinese Valentine’s Day. I believe it was peaceful. He had been in hospital in a vegetative state for several months, and...

Lockdown and the loss of both parents have transformed the entertainer. He talks about the disappointments of TV, outgrowing his comic persona – and his move into the glamping businessI remember the buzz around Johnny Vegas at the Edinburgh fringe in 1997. Everyone knew a star was being born – but a star of what, exactly? No one had ever seen anything quite like...

The send-off for Prince Philip will be a royal funeral like no other, not least because his coffin will be carried in a bespoke Land Rover hearse he helped to design himself.It’s a break from royal tradition – but his choice is not uncommon. Alternative hearses have become increasingly popular in recent years as peo...

Almost as soon as the word Covid is coined, my parents update their “advance decision” documents. They’re constantly adjusting them, fine-tuning their wishes for future medical treatment. “Like a dowager with an elaborate will,” I tease them, blowing the ink dry on yet another signature.When they first completed the...

A year to the day since the UK went into a historic lockdown to combat a frightening and deadly new pandemic, the nation looks back in disbelief and horror. One hundred and twenty six thousand dead. A decimated economy. The reckoning will take decades to pick over. Tuesday’s day of reflection, organised by the cance...

Psychiatrist Bruce Greyson has spent decades talking to people about near-death experiences. His work raises questions about what happens when we die, and how we ought to choose to liveWhen Gregg Nome was 24 years old, he slipped into the churn beneath a waterfall and began to drown, his body pummelled against the sandy riverbed. What he saw there surprised him. Suddenly, his vision...

Analysis: bereaved families concerned that lessons were not learned after first waveExclusive: rare inquests raise care concernsSee all our coronavirus coverageThe failures and concerns highlighted by a senior coroner, Alison Mutch, following the deaths of two men, Anthony Slack and Leslie Harris, from Covid-19, have reinforced bereaved families’ calls for a government inquiry into the handling of the pandemic, and for more inquests.Very few...

‘Mortality management’ has been stretched and as fatalities pass 100k systems are again feeling the strainCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageWhen the UK’s first victim of Covid-19 died on 5 March 2020, there were only 116 recorded infections in the country and few people countenanced a death toll of 100,000.But for government planners it was different. Emergency response experts tasked with “mortality...

Jake Haendel spent months trapped in his body, silent and unmoving but fully conscious. Most people never emerge from ‘locked-in syndrome’, but as a doctor told him, everything about his case is bizarreJake Haendel was a hard-partying chef from a sleepy region of Massachusetts. When he was 28, his heroin addiction resulted in catastrophic brain damage and very nearly killed him. In a matter...

The government’s military operation against leaders of the Tigray region could have devastating consequences across the Horn of Africa What a difference a year makes. Just over 12 months ago, Abiy Ahmed won the Nobel peace prize. The Ethiopian prime minister had overseen extraordinary change in his brief tenure: though the committee singled out the peace deal he had signed with Eritrea, ending an...

Netherlands-based startup company behind eco-friendly fungi mycelium casketAfter months of testing, the first funeral has taken place in the Netherlands using a fast-composting “living coffin” made of mycelium, the mat of fibres that forms the underground part of fungi.“I didn’t actually go, but I talked to a relative beforehand – it was a moving moment, we discussed the cycle of life,” Bob Hendrikx, the...

Photographer Simon Bray’s project Loved and Lost deals with the loss of loved ones. He asked each participant to find a photograph of themselves with their lost loved one, and they returned to the location to replicate the image. The project aims to provide a platform, allowing others to acknowledge their loss, and to celebrate the person they loveDeath has a stigma and the...

Ida lost two brothers in 10 days, and Ken’s teenage sweetheart died at 44. Now, they’re looking for answersSir Oyaseh Ivowi sits in front of a poster of two of his three boys. Olume, the older brother, hovers over Isi; both wear traditional Nigerian dress. Underneath are the words: “Gone too soon, but not forgotten. Olume Godfrey Ivowi, 7 November 1973 to 10 April...

From anxiety to grief, our charts illustrate five areas of mental strain faced by people across the country Continue reading...