GRAVE MATTERS

Most workers inside capitalism live miserable poverty-stricken lives but even in death the indignity of poverty follows them."More people are dying alone without family or friends willing or able to pay for burials and cremations, leaving the taxpayer to pick up the cost of "paupers' funerals". Local authorities across Scotland have seen a sharp rise in the number of both older and younger people dying without funds. In Edinburgh there has been a 46% rise in the number of "national assistance" funerals - those paid for by the state - up to 153 a year, while in Glasgow there has been a 10% rise to 96. Aberdeenshire council is now dealing with one a week. A similar pattern is being witnessed in England and Wales, resulting in estimated annual costs of more than £4m for councils." (Observer, 15 February) RD