The proposed, as yet unnamed, day of remembrance comes hot on the heels of a report published by celebrity death research organisation (BUKITKIK) which looked into the levels of productive output following the demise of a famous figure.
" The results were jaw dropping " said Conway Perrett, the government minister who's brainchild this is, " firstly, I didn't realise that Pete Postlethwaite was dead but also I didn't realise how popular some of these celebrities were. And that is shown in the willingness of many to down tools to commemorate the life of someone they barely knew"
Some children playing in their own tears at the Princess Diana Memorial but would they be so keen if it was
4.30 am on a Tuesday morning in January?
This paper received an early leaked copy of the BUKITKIK report several weeks ago and we took to the streets of the UK to gauge the nation's feelings on this subject. As you might have guessed opinions are divided. " I remember 1998, the year after the deaths of Lady Di and Mother Teresa " said Stan Brain , a retired welder from Woking, " One minute I'm in the tape section of John Menzies bowing my head and the next I know I'm standing in the aisle of an aeroplane scared to move for fear of upsetting the memory of Mother Teresa. I didn't know whether I was coming or going. Plus I'm a diabetic which doesn't help matters. I think this is a good move and if I know I'm going to be busy commemorating on any given day I can plan my day around it. "
Stan is not alone in his support, one man who refused to be named said he was a fire fighter the year after Amy Winehouse died and because he had overslept and missed the community action meeting he was not informed of the proposed silence that was due to take place - " I was at work when my neighbour burst in and said I had to stop what I was doing because Amy Winehouse had died a year ago that very day. I had no option but to do what
he said. Luckily no one died in the fire but it could have been much worse"
And much worse is something that this fire fighter is desperate to avoid - " It just makes sense, we need to stop this madness right now"
But not everyone is so keen, critics of the proposals are not necessarily against the idea of saving time but are more concerned with the registration process. The report suggests that in order to effectively orchestrate a day of national remembrance, say for example 15th September every year, there will need to be a cut off point by which all proposed deaths to be remembered will need to be registered, currently the proposed date is the 1st of April. Any celebrity deaths registered after the 1st April will not be remembered until the following year.
" Say the Queen dies in March " said Brian Banks, president of pressure group Silence Majority, campaigning against the bill, " and her death isn't registered until 2nd April she won't be remembered for another 18 months, people will have forgotten about her by then. Plus, it won't be long before the government brings in self -assessment, how are they going to do that? By seance?"
The BUKITKIK report is due to be debated in the commons tomorrow.
