61 h. ago I’ve studied the history of death. I know how we can better face up to our grief – and our own mortality | Molly Conisbee

How we deal with bereavement has changed enormously over the years. But not all the old traditions should be forgottenMany years ago, as part of a school homework project, I asked my grandparents what the most significant social change had been during their lifetime. Two of them answered “child mortality”. I was surprised. Weren’t there other, more significant experiences in long lives that had stretched from the first and second world wars to the 1980s?But now that I am older and have experienced bereavement, I understand their replies. Both grandparents had sisters who died of diphtheria. And my grandfather’s younger brother died of sepsis, meaning his parents had buried two of their four children before the age of three. Their childhoods had been profoundly shaped by loss. Child mortality was, at that time, horrifyingly common, and from their earliest years many people spent a great deal of their lives coping with the emotional fallout of grief, which shaped their lives into olde...

Events

4 d. ago Tradition and change intertwine to create beauty at a century

Planting Fields Arboretum State Historic Park is a rare old estate with its original acreage intact

Politics

7 d. ago Top winemaker ‘may have to leave its Spanish vineyards due to climate crisis’

Familia Torres has been making wine in Catalonia since 1870, but says it may have to move to higher altitudes in 30 years’ timeA leading European winemaker has warned it may have to abandon its ancestral lands in Catalonia in 30 years’ time because climate change could make traditional growing areas too dry and hot.Familia Torres is already installing irrigation at its vineyards in Spain and California and is planting vines on land at higher altitudes as it tries to adapt to more extreme conditions. Continue reading...

Events

8 d. ago Why the FA Cup final is not being played on the final weekend of the season

Man City and Crystal Palace meet at Wembley this weekend with a new six-year deal between the FA and Premier League changing the date of the traditional climax to the English season

Politics

2 w. ago UK business activity falls for the first time since October 2023 as trade tensions hurt economy, and car sales slide – business live

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsTrump’s foreign film tariffs could ‘wipe out’ UK movie industry, ministers toldCar sales across the UK fell by over 10% last month, compared to a year ago.New industry data shows that 120,331 new vehicles were registered in April, 10.4% fewer than in April 2024.In what is traditionally a quieter month following the March plate change, volumes were also impacted by the late timing of Easter, resulting in fewer working days.In addition, the implementation of VED changes affecting all new cars, including the Expensive Car Supplement which became applicable to many new EVs from 1 April, pushed transactions into March as shrewd buyers got ahead of the tax increases. Continue reading...

Economics

2 w. ago UK car sales drop 10% in April; Ford predicts $1.5bn profit hit from Trump tariffs – business live

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsTrump’s foreign film tariffs could ‘wipe out’ UK movie industry, ministers toldCar sales across the UK fell by over 10% last month, compared to a year ago.New industry data shows that 120,331 new vehicles were registered in April, 10.4% fewer than in April 2024.In what is traditionally a quieter month following the March plate change, volumes were also impacted by the late timing of Easter, resulting in fewer working days.In addition, the implementation of VED changes affecting all new cars, including the Expensive Car Supplement which became applicable to many new EVs from 1 April, pushed transactions into March as shrewd buyers got ahead of the tax increases. Continue reading...

Economics

3 w. ago Nature nurture: the Devon estate where rewilding and mental health go hand in hand

A restoration project at Sharpham near Totnes aims to tackle the loss of the natural world while helping people build mental resilienceTwo landscapes separated by a wide sweep of river tell a story of change. On one side is traditional farmland, close-cropped grazing, uniform grasses, neatly tended hedges and a sparsity of trees, a farmscape ubiquitous across England. On the riverbank opposite, rougher, less uniform grasses grow unevenly between trees, thistle and brambles, in a chaos of natural disorder swaying in the breeze towards the reedbeds below.The land on the Sharpham estate side of the River Dart used to be a mirror of the traditional farmscape on the opposite bank. It hosted a non-organic dairy farm and a vineyard, within a tightly controlled 18th-century heritage landscape of deforested parkland. Continue reading...

Politics