(This is the penultimate instalment in my protracted quest to give The Blog Digest away for slightly less than you can now buy it for from an Amazon affiliate. Or at least to give the jokes I sweated over for the chapter intros another run out)

Shuffling off – Death

Death, like syphilis, incontinence and vegetarianism, is all very well unless it’s happening to you. Then it’s not so much fun, obviously. Here we’ll explore the deepest of mysteries, examine the greatest of levellers and try not to get too down about the biggest of bummers.

To paraphrase Malcolm in Macbeth, nothing in this life becomes us like the leaving it. There seems little point in worrying about it other than to rail against the unjust deaths visited upon so many in the world today. And also, to make peace and reconciliation with the fact that we ourselves will one day, to quote more Shakespeare (Hamlet this time), shuffle off this mortal coil. (No, I’m not convincing myself either.)

In other words, this is a chapter in which we reaffirm that death is like a Cliff Richard record at Christmas: there is no escape. It’s a bad business, to be sure.

…

October 2005 – International Rooksbyism: Violence
Here’s Ed Rooksby with a powerful – and graphic – meditation on violence and death.

October 2005 – Tokyo Times: Ghoulish Gifts
Lee Chapman has lived in Tokyo since 1998 and his blog, Tokyo Times, offers an English perspective of Japanese society. Here, he tells of an even darker aspect of Japan’s notorious suicide rates.

November 2005 – Militant Moderate: Where We Hope To Keep Safe From Pain
In November 2005 George Best hung up his boots. To say he was a complex character leaves little room for dazzling, perplexing, infuriating and a thousand other adjectives. Militant Moderate Ken Owen, while acknowledging Best’s faults, wrote of the man’s talent with some fine, sincere lyricism.

November 2005 – Blood & Treasure: Stick a fork in him
With no disrespect to Ken, however, there were many, including me, for whom Best’s talents were totally eclipsed by his terrible failings. My partner used to work in Chelsea and saw Best often – he was invariably sitting outside a pub on the King’s Road with a pint in his hand. Her job? She worked in a women’s refuge clearing up the carnage the likes of Best created. Jamie Kenny showed the kind of anger that some of the more lachrymose obituaries studiously avoided.

December 2005 – Robert Sharp: Encountering the ‘Submerged’
While George Best and other public figures who died in the last 12 months were fêted with acres of news coverage, many, many more slipped away unremarked upon and unmourned. Robert Sharp meditates on those who suffer and die away from the spotlight.

December 2005 – Gnus of the World: Hold on tight, it’s the end of the road
Oscar Wildebeest commits a minor heresy by refusing to mourn the death of one of London’s most famous icons.

December 2005 – Stumbling and Mumbling: John Lennon and the decline of the Left
On the 25th anniversary of the murder of John Lennon, Chris Dillow had some harsh words to say about Lennon’s impact on British politics, specifically on the left wing.

January 2006 – The Loneliest Jukebox: Whale Meat Again
In January thousands of people lined the Thames to watch a lost whale swim up and down. The cynical side of me wonders how many went home afterwards and joined Greenpeace. Here’s a short but thoughtful piece from Gary Barnfield who deserves an entry for his title alone.

February 2006 – World Weary Detective: Mary Mary Quite Contrary
The World Weary Detective relates a tale of another victim of the Blind Eye.

May 2006 – Rafael Behr: It’s a metaphor for something, but I don’t know what
Rafael Behr notes a tragic collision of two of humanity’s abiding passions – a thirst for knowledge and high-powered weaponry. There is one unanswered question that calls to another passion: how did it taste?

August 2006 – John Band: It’s morally right that people should die for my amusement
Why ban potentially lethal guns but not potentially lethal margarine? It’s all to do with the fun-to-killing ratio, explains John Band.

August 2006 – As A Dodo: Albert Camus’ The Outsider 1942–2006
August saw the departure of a much-loved classic. As A Dodo writes this touching obituary.

September 2006 – Konichiwa Bitches: War Against Terror? I’ll take me chances.
John Brissenden remembers a friend killed on September 11 2001 and takes stock of the War Against Terror as fought so far.

September 2006 – Mr Eugenides: At least a croc didn’t get him
Mr Eugenides marks the passing of a True Aussie Hero.