About Me

I'm a PhD student researching the role of the archaeological dead in contemporary British society. Think of this as a scrapbook of all the interesting links, snippets of information and random bits and bobs I come across pertaining to death, dying and the dead. Enjoy?!

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    Hyundai pulls suicide bid car advert

    Carmaker Hyundai has apologised and pulled an online advert that depicted a man attempting to kill himself with exhaust fumes in its new model.

    Hyundai said it “sincerely apologises for the offensive viral video”.

    The advert, highlighting the car’s “100% water emissions”, attracted complaints on social media sites.

    Londoner Holly Brockwell, whose father killed himself inside a car in 1990, blogged about how she had felt “empty” and “sick” on seeing the advert.

    On the blog, read thousands of times and published as an open letter to Hyundai and Innocean, the advertising agency which made the video, she wrote: “When your ad started to play… I began to shake.

    “I shook so hard that I had to put down my drink before I spilt it. And then I started to cry.”

    The 27-year-old, of Streatham, south London, recalled how it had brought back memories of her father Geoff’s death when she was five years old.

    (Source: BBC News)

    A Point of View: The biggest decision A personal essay on a particularly controversial issue by the writer Will Self, arguing that we should accept the right of people nearing the end of their lives to take matters into their own hands if they wish. This may seem rather shocking to you but I am expecting to kill myself. Really I am, and if you’ll hear me out I hope to at least nudge society in the direction of considering suicide acceptable when - and this is the important point - the alternative is a slow painful death from a terminal illness. Why? Well, the facts are pretty persuasive when it comes to the business of British dying. We’re living longer and longer, while our deaths are becoming commensurately more protracted. Such is the brilliance of contemporary medical science, at least in our privileged realm, that we can be kept breathing long past the point where our existence is anything save miserable - miserable for us, miserable for our loved ones, and miserable for those who have been appointed by either by the state or a private health plan to minister unto us. Read more here.

    A Point of View: The biggest decision

    A personal essay on a particularly controversial issue by the writer Will Self, arguing that we should accept the right of people nearing the end of their lives to take matters into their own hands if they wish.

    This may seem rather shocking to you but I am expecting to kill myself.

    Really I am, and if you’ll hear me out I hope to at least nudge society in the direction of considering suicide acceptable when - and this is the important point - the alternative is a slow painful death from a terminal illness.

    Why? Well, the facts are pretty persuasive when it comes to the business of British dying. We’re living longer and longer, while our deaths are becoming commensurately more protracted.

    Such is the brilliance of contemporary medical science, at least in our privileged realm, that we can be kept breathing long past the point where our existence is anything save miserable - miserable for us, miserable for our loved ones, and miserable for those who have been appointed by either by the state or a private health plan to minister unto us.

    Read more here.

    Lindsey Fitzharris of the The Chirurgeon’s Apprentice with the hands of a 19th-century suicide victim, housed at St Bart’s Pathology Museum, London. Electrical wire can be seen wrapped around the wrists. Learn more about the people who died and the surgeons who dissected their bodies in the upcoming trailer for “Medicine’s Dark Secrets” - to be posted soon on The Chirurgeon’s Apprentice!

    Lindsey Fitzharris of the The Chirurgeon’s Apprentice with the hands of a 19th-century suicide victim, housed at St Bart’s Pathology Museum, London. Electrical wire can be seen wrapped around the wrists. 

    Learn more about the people who died and the surgeons who dissected their bodies in the upcoming trailer for “Medicine’s Dark Secrets” - to be posted soon on The Chirurgeon’s Apprentice!

    Rise In Suicides Linked To Recession, Financial Issues And Unemployment, Says Study

    Suicides have been on the rise since the recession began in 2008, with the British Medical Journal reporting that economic woe could be to blame for more than 1,000 deaths.

    The study shows 846 men and 155 women have committed suicide because of the economic crisis in England, after 20 years of a declining suicide rate.

    Clare Wyllie, head of policy and research at Samaritans, said: “It is well-established that the suicide rate tends to rise with unemployment and recession.

    “This research gives us credible evidence that the suicide rate in England is linked to the current recession.

    “We’ve seen calls to the helpline from people worried about financial difficulties double since the onset of the economic crisis.

    “In 2008, one in ten calls to the helpline were about financial issues, but now that’s one in five. There is evidence that government investment in welfare and active labour market policies can mitigate the increase in suicide during recession.
                                                                                                    
    “The research also points to important gender differences in suicide. Samaritans is currently researching how social expectations of men contribute to the considerably higher rate of suicide in men.”

    In 2008, suicides rose 8% among men and 9% among women, compared to 2010.

    Academics from the universities of Liverpool, Cambridge and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine took data from the National Clinical and Health Outcomes database, looking at how many more suicides occurred than would have been expected.

    The academics admit that it is impossible to directly link suicides to depression over unemployment. But between 2008 and 2010, the number of unemployed men rose by more than 25% each year.

    There was also a small reduction in suicides in 2010, following a slight recovery in male employment.

    The study found “although the initial economic shock of the recession does increase suicide risk, policies that promote re-employment may reverse this trend”.

    “The human cost of continued high levels of unemployment will outweigh the purported benefits of budget cuts”.

    In a separate study, British GPs linked the recession to an increase in abortions, anxiety and alcohol abuse.

    More than a fifth of GPs surveyed believed patients sought abortions because of money worries, and 77% felt there had been an increase in mental health disorders being treated.

    Richard Kunzmann, Research Manager at Insight Research Group, who has lead the research for the last six months, said: ” It’s a particularly tough challenge for time-poor GPs who are faced with many patients who just need someone to talk to.

    “Their only real option in the immediate term is to prescribe medication, which of course is rarely the solution.”

    If you have been affected by the issues in this story, please call the Samaritans to talk to someone on 08457 90 90 90

    Revealing the ‘suicide veil’ at NYU library put up after three students killed themselves by plummeting over balconiesNew York University’s Elmer Holmes Bobst Library has just revealed a new elaborate fencing construct that they hope will prevent students from committing suicide. The library has been the site of three deaths since 2003 and administrators have struggled to find a solemn and practical solution to keep more tragedies from happening. Designed by Joel Sanders, the 20-foot tall, gold, metal enclosures are meant to resemble digital pixels, but students were largely unimpressed, calling them everything from ‘cages’ to ‘confessionals.’ Full story here.

    Revealing the ‘suicide veil’ at NYU library put up after three students killed themselves by plummeting over balconies

    New York University’s Elmer Holmes Bobst Library has just revealed a new elaborate fencing construct that they hope will prevent students from committing suicide.

    The library has been the site of three deaths since 2003 and administrators have struggled to find a solemn and practical solution to keep more tragedies from happening.

    Designed by Joel Sanders, the 20-foot tall, gold, metal enclosures are meant to resemble digital pixels, but students were largely unimpressed, calling them everything from ‘cages’ to ‘confessionals.’

    Full story here.

    Beauty and Death: A World-Famous Icon’s Dark Side This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge. While there have been many celebrations to commemorate the design, construction and beauty of the world’s most famous span, one thing that has received relatively little attention is the fact that the bridge continues to be the top suicide site on earth. The first suicide occurred mere weeks after the bridge opened in 1937. A 47-year-old World War I veteran walked halfway out on the bridge, told a stranger “This is as far as I go,” and jumped. Since then, there have been 1,600 confirmed deaths though many other suicides haven’t been confirmed because a body wasn’t found—either it sank too quickly or was washed out to sea. In these instances the person officially is considered “missing.” Click through for the rest of this poignant article.

    Beauty and Death: A World-Famous Icon’s Dark Side

    This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge. While there have been many celebrations to commemorate the design, construction and beauty of the world’s most famous span, one thing that has received relatively little attention is the fact that the bridge continues to be the top suicide site on earth.

    The first suicide occurred mere weeks after the bridge opened in 1937. A 47-year-old World War I veteran walked halfway out on the bridge, told a stranger “This is as far as I go,” and jumped.

    Since then, there have been 1,600 confirmed deaths though many other suicides haven’t been confirmed because a body wasn’t found—either it sank too quickly or was washed out to sea. In these instances the person officially is considered “missing.”

    Click through for the rest of this poignant article.

    Mad Men creators accused of insensitivity to families of 9/11 victims over ‘hurtful’ falling man poster campaign for TV series The creators of Mad Men have been accused of being insensitive to 9/11 victims’ families over the poster being used in New York to advertise the new series. The billboards, which have been put up close to Ground Zero, depict a male character falling from the sky against a white background. New Yorkers have said it reminds them of the iconic image of the ‘Falling Man’ who hurled himself out of the World Trade Centre to escape the burning building. He and dozens of others chose to commit suicide rather than burn to death during the 2001 attack which killed 2,977 people including 68 Britons.

    Mad Men creators accused of insensitivity to families of 9/11 victims over ‘hurtful’ falling man poster campaign for TV series

    The creators of Mad Men have been accused of being insensitive to 9/11 victims’ families over the poster being used in New York to advertise the new series.

    The billboards, which have been put up close to Ground Zero, depict a male character falling from the sky against a white background.

    New Yorkers have said it reminds them of the iconic image of the ‘Falling Man’ who hurled himself out of the World Trade Centre to escape the burning building.

    He and dozens of others chose to commit suicide rather than burn to death during the 2001 attack which killed 2,977 people including 68 Britons.

    halfcentonline: mohandasgandhi: androphilia: ‘Mass suicide’ protest at Apple manufacturer Foxconn factory | Telegraph Around 150 Chinese workers at Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics manufacturer, threatened to commit suicide by leaping from their factory roof in protest at their working conditions. By Malcolm Moore, in Shanghai January 11, 2012 The workers were eventually coaxed down after two days on top of their three-floor plant in Wuhan by Foxconn managers and local Chinese Communist party officials. Foxconn, which manufactures gadgets for the likes of Apple, Sony, Nintendo and HP, among many others, has had a grim history of suicides at its factories. A suicide cluster in 2010 saw 18 workers throw themselves from the tops of the company’s buildings, with 14 deaths. In the aftermath of the suicides, Foxconn installed safety nets in some of its factories and hired counsellors to help its workers. The latest protest began on January 2 after managers decided to move around 600 workers to a new production line, making computer cases for Acer, a Taiwanese computer company. “We were put to work without any training, and paid piecemeal,” said one of the protesting workers, who asked not to be named. “The assembly line ran very fast and after just one morning we all had blisters and the skin on our hand was black. The factory was also really choked with dust and no one could bear it,” he said. Several reports from inside Foxconn factories have suggested that while the company is more advanced than many of its competitors, it is run in a “military” fashion that many workers cannot cope with. At Foxconn’s flagship plant in Longhua, five per cent of its workers, or 24,000 people, quit every month. “Because we could not cope, we went on strike,” said the worker. “It was not about the money but because we felt we had no options. At first, the managers said anyone who wanted to quit could have one month’s pay as compensation, but then they withdrew that offer. So we went to the roof and threatened a mass suicide”. The worker said that Foxconn initially refused to negotiate, but that the workers were treated reasonably by the local police and fire service. A spokesman for Foxconn confirmed the protest, and said that the incident was “successfully and peacefully resolved after discussions between the workers, local Foxconn officials and representatives from the local government”. He added that 45 Foxconn employees had chosen to resign and the remainder had returned to work. “The welfare of our employees is our top priority and we are committed to ensuring that all employees are treated fairly,” he said. © Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2012 [Photo © Club.china.com] Foxconn manufactures parts for more than just Apple.

    halfcentonline:

    mohandasgandhi:

    androphilia:

    ‘Mass suicide’ protest at Apple manufacturer Foxconn factory | Telegraph

    Around 150 Chinese workers at Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics manufacturer, threatened to commit suicide by leaping from their factory roof in protest at their working conditions.

    By Malcolm Moore, in Shanghai

    January 11, 2012

    The workers were eventually coaxed down after two days on top of their three-floor plant in Wuhan by Foxconn managers and local Chinese Communist party officials.

    Foxconn, which manufactures gadgets for the likes of Apple, Sony, Nintendo and HP, among many others, has had a grim history of suicides at its factories. A suicide cluster in 2010 saw 18 workers throw themselves from the tops of the company’s buildings, with 14 deaths.

    In the aftermath of the suicides, Foxconn installed safety nets in some of its factories and hired counsellors to help its workers.

    The latest protest began on January 2 after managers decided to move around 600 workers to a new production line, making computer cases for Acer, a Taiwanese computer company.

    “We were put to work without any training, and paid piecemeal,” said one of the protesting workers, who asked not to be named. “The assembly line ran very fast and after just one morning we all had blisters and the skin on our hand was black. The factory was also really choked with dust and no one could bear it,” he said.

    Several reports from inside Foxconn factories have suggested that while the company is more advanced than many of its competitors, it is run in a “military” fashion that many workers cannot cope with. At Foxconn’s flagship plant in Longhua, five per cent of its workers, or 24,000 people, quit every month.

    “Because we could not cope, we went on strike,” said the worker. “It was not about the money but because we felt we had no options. At first, the managers said anyone who wanted to quit could have one month’s pay as compensation, but then they withdrew that offer. So we went to the roof and threatened a mass suicide”.

    The worker said that Foxconn initially refused to negotiate, but that the workers were treated reasonably by the local police and fire service.

    A spokesman for Foxconn confirmed the protest, and said that the incident was “successfully and peacefully resolved after discussions between the workers, local Foxconn officials and representatives from the local government”.

    He added that 45 Foxconn employees had chosen to resign and the remainder had returned to work. “The welfare of our employees is our top priority and we are committed to ensuring that all employees are treated fairly,” he said.

    © Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2012

    [Photo © Club.china.com]

    Foxconn manufactures parts for more than just Apple.

    (via discoverynews)

    ramirezdahmerbundy: Christine Chubbuck was the first and only TV news reporter to commit suicide during a live television broadcast. On July 15, 1974, eight minutes into the broadcast, the depressed reporter said “In keeping with Channel 40’s policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts, and in living color, you are going to see another first: an attempted suicide.” With that, Chubbuck drew up a revolver and shot herself in the head. Three weeks before her suicide, she had asked the station’s news director if she could do a news piece on suicide. After her suggestion was approved, she visited the local sheriff’s department to discuss with an officer methods of suicide. In the interview, an officer told her one of the most efficient ways was to use a .38 caliber revolver with wadcutter target bullets, and to shoot oneself in the back of the head rather than in the temple

    ramirezdahmerbundy:

    Christine Chubbuck was the first and only TV news reporter to commit suicide during a live television broadcast. On July 15, 1974, eight minutes into the broadcast, the depressed reporter said “In keeping with Channel 40’s policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts, and in living color, you are going to see another first: an attempted suicide.” With that, Chubbuck drew up a revolver and shot herself in the head. Three weeks before her suicide, she had asked the station’s news director if she could do a news piece on suicide. After her suggestion was approved, she visited the local sheriff’s department to discuss with an officer methods of suicide. In the interview, an officer told her one of the most efficient ways was to use a .38 caliber revolver with wadcutter target bullets, and to shoot oneself in the back of the head rather than in the temple

    (via itonlygetsbetterfromhere)

    A nice, cheery post via Atlas Obscura Aokigahara Forest and other Suicide Spots Places where people choose to end it all, popular enough to require signs asking people not to do it. Called “the perfect place to die,” the Aokigahara forest has the unfortunate distinction as the world’s second most popular place to take one’s life. Since the 1950s, hundreds of Japanese businessmen, students, and housewives have wandered into the forest with the intention of never walking back out. People taking their lives within the forest is a common enough problem that signs such as  ”Your life is a precious gift from your parents,” and “Please consult the police before you decide to die!” are posted on trees throughout the forest. Locals say they can easily spot the three types of visitors to the forest: trekkers interested in scenic vistas of Mount Fuji, the curious hoping for a glimpse of the macabre, and those souls who don’t plan on returning. The suicides leave an unfortunate scene for workers to clean up. The workers must carry the bodies down from the forest to the local station, where the bodies are put in a special room used specifically to house suicide corpses. The forest workers then play jan-ken-pon—rock, paper, scissors—to see who has to sleep in the room with the corpse. Other popular suicide spots around the world include the Golden Gate Bridge, the most popular suicide spot in the world, Beachy Head - England’s most popular suicide location - and Turisalu Cliff a popular suicide spot in Estonia.

    A nice, cheery post via Atlas Obscura

    Aokigahara Forest and other Suicide Spots

    Places where people choose to end it all, popular enough to require signs asking people not to do it.

    Called “the perfect place to die,” the Aokigahara forest has the unfortunate distinction as the world’s second most popular place to take one’s life. Since the 1950s, hundreds of Japanese businessmen, students, and housewives have wandered into the forest with the intention of never walking back out.

    People taking their lives within the forest is a common enough problem that signs such as  ”Your life is a precious gift from your parents,” and “Please consult the police before you decide to die!” are posted on trees throughout the forest. Locals say they can easily spot the three types of visitors to the forest: trekkers interested in scenic vistas of Mount Fuji, the curious hoping for a glimpse of the macabre, and those souls who don’t plan on returning.

    The suicides leave an unfortunate scene for workers to clean up. The workers must carry the bodies down from the forest to the local station, where the bodies are put in a special room used specifically to house suicide corpses. The forest workers then play jan-ken-pon—rock, paper, scissors—to see who has to sleep in the room with the corpse.

    Other popular suicide spots around the world include the Golden Gate Bridge, the most popular suicide spot in the world, Beachy Head - England’s most popular suicide location - and Turisalu Cliff a popular suicide spot in Estonia.