I believe that the latest spate of TV ads for cut price cremations are an obscenity in disguise.

People far from the pearly gates are portrayed relishing the notion of a cheap send off whilst others pushing the idea seem to revel in the possibility that money saved will go to some almighty knees up after the temporary celebration of their “loved ones” lives, the rest presumably spent on annual sun tans and four wheel drives.

The commercialisation of the diluted end of life ceremony is to my mind typical of what we humans are sinking to with not only disrespect for those who gave us life but for the self respect we should exhibit.

The passage from life into death should be travelled with the utmost dignity choose who the departed be and not as some money saving initiative.

To sum up this cynicism I am reminded of a tasteless joke I heard some time ago whereby a boy asked his grandfather if he did frog impersonations, when the grandfather asks why, the lad says because my dad said when you croak we are all going to Benidorm.