Death
What does it take to have someone declared dead? £480, for a start
Matters of life and death Lord Lucan is now officially presumed dead. How do you have someone declared dead? In…
The NHS has forgotten the art of a dignified death
Ten years ago, the National Health Service eased my father’s final days. My mother, this year, was not so lucky
Corbyn’s turn on Today was as graceful and twinkle-toed as Bowie himself
Some might say that Jeremy Corbyn is cloth-eared, tone-deaf, socially inept but on Monday morning, as the death of the…
Tricycle’s Ben Hur is magnificent in its superficiality - a masterpiece of nothing
It’s the target that makes the satire as well as the satirist. Is the subject powerful, active, relevant and menacing?…
The strange death of Louis XIV
At the beginning of the summer of 1715 Louis XIV complained of a pain in the leg. In mid-August gangrene…
Why do we assume our western good life will last for ever?
The slaughter in Paris is a catastrophe for the victims and their families, but the usual hysterical response across the…
Joan Collins’s diary: I’m in deep shock at Jackie’s death, but life goes on
I had only experienced great loss when my mother died. It was desperately harrowing, but not as harrowing as the…
What is it about Bill Viola’s films that reduce grown-ups to tears?
What is it about Bill Viola's films that reduce grown-ups to tears? William Cook dries his eyes and talks to the video artist about Zen, loss and nearly drowning
Spectator letters: Mental health and assisted dying
Suicide and assisted dying Sir: As a mental health practitioner, I am grateful to Douglas Murray (‘Death watch’, 29 August)…
The brave thing now: don’t write about your death
In the social media age, breaking ‘the last taboo’ is de rigueur
How your funeral director is ripping you off
Funerals are a rip-off. But you can do something about that
A sombre Irish family saga — that glows in the dark
The Green Road is a novel in two parts about leaving and returning home. A big house called Ardeevin, walking…
The over-75s are being asked if they would like to sign their own death warrants
It’s more than four months now since my 75th birthday, but I’m still waiting for a ‘cold call’ from the…
Britain has the lowest percentage of women engineers in Europe. Why?
‘It’s hard to know how to tell this story,’ she said as she began. ‘Because it’s so loaded. It’s so…
Anne Tyler’s everyday passions
There was nothing remarkable about the Whitshanks. None of them was famous. None of them could claim exceptional intelligence, and…
You realise how little you know of anybody when they die
Whether or not you believe in the afterlife, death remains an impenetrable mystery. One moment a person is making jokes…
Here I am on Twelfth Night with nothing but benevolence to look back on
For the past two and a half years my brother John has been living next door to me in the…
Life is full of little endings. We should pay them more attention
Life is full of little endings. We should pay them more attention
We know that war is hell. But it doesn’t ever make us stop doing it
There’s a plausible theory — recently rehearsed in the BBC’s excellent two-part documentary The Lion’s Last Roar? — that our…
Jeremy Vine’s diary: Zipcars, hipster milk and the word that means I’m losing an argument
Last Tuesday I tried to sign up to a new life. My wife and I argued, slightly. ‘I don’t think…
Clive James on his late flowering: ‘I am in the slightly embarrassing position where I write poems saying I’m about to die and then don’t’
Clive James on poetry, civilisation and the critical benefits of facing leukaemia
Why do we care about the mutts from Manchester and not the chickens from KFC?
Our attitude to animals and their suffering is bonkers
Charles Saatchi’s new book of photos makes me feel sick
Charles Saatchi, the gallery owner, has created his own Chamber of Horrors in this thick, square book, ‘inspired by striking…
No, I haven’t seen that beheading video. And it’s not right to share it
It’s time to stand up against the self-righteous sharing of videos of beheading and other gruesome violence
Anthony Horowitz’s Diary: Dinner with Saddam, anyone?
I have written a play, but a month after it was sent to half a dozen theatres, I have heard…
