Oily Porkies About the Afterlife

Apropos of Friday’s post on pork; were you aware that people in Scotland eschewed pork for some considerable time and the taboo finally died out only after around 1800.

I see from the news that Tony Hayward, BP’s CEO, is being criticised by the Yanks for having the temerity to eat and sleep while oil continues to gush out of the Deep Water Horizon hole in the earth. This is another in a long line of gaffes by the White House.

Dr Howard Martin, a GP cleared of murdering three patients five years ago, has admitted to a newspaper that he did hasten the deaths of people in his care. He told the Daily Telegraph he acted out of "Christian compassion" for patients' dignity. Harriet Harman, deputy Labour Party leader, was overheard muttering that she wished Doc Martin would show some compassion for the dignity of David Cameron and Nick Clegg too.

Talking of death, I should like to commend a book to you – Sum: Forty tales from the afterlives by David Eagleman; a wonderfully witty and thoughtful little book of essays you could read in an afternoon, written by a neuroscientist who describes himself as a Possibilian.

A quote from Wiki: As a work of literary fiction, the book presents forty mutually exclusive stories staged in a wide variety of possible afterlives. The author has stated that none of the stories are meant to be taken as serious theological proposals, but instead that the message of the book is the importance of exploring new ideas beyond the ones that have been traditionally passed down.

Here’s a link to the Amazon page. Alternatively you can buy my copy for a fiver plus p&p.