Graves

The Guardian recently published a book review about the dead of the First World War in a way that was new to me.  Essentially, the First World War was one of the first occasions when private bereavement was scaled up to a national scale.  The article covers this in terms of government decisions to treat all the dead equally.  At the time, that must have been radical.  It would very much have been the era of officers and "other ranks".

It seemed to me to cast a reflection on modern problems.  In our cemetery service, but also many others, Brent Council has to find ways to combine effective mass provision with personalised care.  The graves service is simply one of these, although perhaps more sensitive than most.