Disasters happen but I don’t remember death tolls of over 40,000 occurring regularly in my life time, certainly not twice in a year. Likewise, when it comes to September 11th and the July bombings, it takes an impressively brainwashed and godless person to perpetrate such an act in the name of a religion. Does it do us any harm to take a few moments out to remember those who died, support those who grieve for them and reflect on the fact that the human race is too old for this kind of behaviour and should have grown out of it years ago?

Lady Di is controversial but there is no doubt that her death did unite a significant part of the nation in grief - it wasn’t necessarily grief for her, as you rightly say - although a lot of it was - but even so it was grief that clearly needed to be expressed and the experience appears to have been cathartic for many. Since that day, large numbers of people have put aside their differences and united in a similar way, on several occasions, to remember this country or the world’s dead. It’s an innocuous aim, it brings people together who might otherwise never meet and might even be hostile to one another to offer each other support and perform an act of remembrance together.

Yes, there are pseudo, tabloid trimmings but I’m happy to put up with those when the core event, at present, is still genuine. Can anything which unites disparate groups of people in a positive act, even if it only lasts for a few moments, be a bad thing? Should it be discouraged? I’d say no.

When everyday becomes a moment of silence, those moments lose their special place and are watered down to the point of becoming worthless. This has less to do with being callous or cold hearted and more to do with the nature of the human condition.

And as human beings, we also tend to keep most vivid, the memories most recent. So now the likes of Princess Di are remembered for their untimely deaths while their humanitarian deeds become largely forgotten.

Personally, I would rather my children have fond memories of me as a loving father rather than being the victim in a fatal corldess bungee jumping accident.

Our nation just loves any event, we go over the top for anything. I saw this morning a 5l Jerry can of unleaded on Ebay for £50.00

As Regards Diana…First the Dodo died, then dodi died, then Di died, then Dando died…and Dido must be worried sick!

I do understand the relatively new phenomenon to Great Britain of families that have lost loved ones leaving descansos.

The website ‘Roadside Memorials‘ explain that descanos are constructed as memorials to people killed in automobile accidents, descansos are maintained by family and friends of the deceased. The descansos not only represents the death of a loved one, but also the life and memories of the victim.

Descansos, from the Spanish word meaning rest or relief, were used to mark the place where a coffin was temporarily set down by weary pallbearers traveling on foot to a cemetery. The descansos were created to remind people to pray for the deceased. Early American settlers used descansos to mark the sites where pioneers died in Indian ambushes.

One very moving message from the Roadside Memorials website explained perfectly why the bereathed build these descanos:

‘To most people who drive by this site, Philip is now no more than a roadside sign, hanging on the tree, where he was killed as a passenger in an automobile accident, but to his parents, siblings and children, this roadside sign is a reminder of the all too few treasured moments we spent with this young man. He will be missed until the day we are ALL reunited in HEAVEN…no closure till then!’ - Philip Allan Lyell, May 2, 1961 - August 3, 1997

If you wish to be moved to tears I suggest you read some of the heartbreaking memorials on the Roadside Memorials website.