Last night I had the absolute honour to attend the Dying Matters annual lecture at the Royal College of Physicians. The theme You Only Die Once: Kate Granger’s story. Kate sent me a DM asking if I’d like to come a couple months ago, and I can honestly say I wandered around with a grin […]
Today is the launch of Dying Matters awareness week, that is themed this year as #yodo You Only Die Once. A week long flurry of activity, awareness raising events, meet ups, socials, academic lectures, press coverage, everything and anything to draw people’s attention to death and dying, and the benefits of discussing your wishes with […]
The more observant among you will have noticed I’ve been tweeting a bit about #JusticeforLB lately. I kind of figure that if you read this blog, or my tweets, you’re fairly used to me irritating you or over-sharing on things like death and dying. I know that’s not easy for everyone but as I’ve blogged […]
Less than a year ago I wrote a blog post about my 35 thousandth tweet. That post focused on the inspiration provided by Kate Granger and Philip Gould and my personal support for their beliefs that we need to relearn the art of dying. This is something I feel passionately about, even more now than I […]
I’d like to share a story from my past, I’ll try to cut the detail and make it brief. When I was thirteen or fourteen I volunteered for a week in a local play scheme for kids with special needs. Run by social services to this day I can’t remember how I knew about it, […]
About two years ago I read a brilliant article Twitter by Post in which Giles Turnbull had taken twitter offline, replying in real time via the post. During 2012 I attempted to make more of an effort to send postcards, and I’m delighted that a few tweeps have been on the receiving end. I’m hoping […]
Last week there was a little storm brewing in my twitter stream. Patient Opinion, who have been an active participant on social media and have been using it to power good for a number of years, were suddenly inundated with concerns for their future. Tim Kelsey, the National Director for Patients and Information at NHS […]
It’s twelve months, one year, 365 days since my Dad died. http://instagram.com/p/gunhbpiYTj/ It doesn’t feel real and yet I’ve developed a low level awareness that’s constantly there. It feels like yesterday but it also feels much longer than a year. If there is one thing that I can emphatically say I’ve learnt over the last […]
I started writing this on a train to Bath where I’ve the absolute pleasure of spending the night with Rich Watts (my virtual twin) and his family, before heading into Bristol bright and early tomorrow for TEDxBristol. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow which will allow me to spend a whole day focusing on failure, […]
Fifty one weeks, four hours and about 15 minutes ago my Dad died. Bobby J let out his last breath, peacefully, at home very much knowing he was loved. I’ve written about his death before. My Dad’s life and death, have provided the lens through which I viewed my own life of late, and challenged […]