Death is the one of the last taboos in contemporary British society. Medical advances over the past 200 years have all but ended infant mortality and life expectancy is now more than 81 years. As a result, we are less familiar with death, which is confined to medicalised environments. We tend not to talk about it.
Our reasonable expectation that most people will live to a ripe old age means that we are even more shocked when younger people die.
Fear and frustration
Earlier this month Deborah James, the podcaster, revealed that she had moved to end-of-life care for bowel cancer. She is only 40 and will leave a partner and two children. She has spoken with candid honesty of her fear and frustration. In a podcast interview she said: ‘Please, please just enjoy life because it is so precious. All I want right now is more time and more life.’ In an interview with the Sun, she said:
How the Titanic encapsulates the human dilemma
Last month a gold pocket watch worn by John Jacob Astor, the richest passenger on the Titanic, was sold …