Those of us on the barricades of the news cycle sometimes delude ourselves that by paying vigilant witness, we’re performing some necessary function
In 2010, a fundraiser was held to repair the grave of a man named Richard Munslow. In the century since Munslow had been buried in the town of Ratlinghope, about an hour outside of Birmingham, the stone that marked his life had fallen into disrepair.
After a few months, the £1,000 needed to hire a local stonemason was raised and the work was done. “This grave at Ratlinghope is now in an excellent state of repair,” the Reverend Norman Morris, the town’s vicar, told the
BBC at the time. “But I have no desire to reinstate the ritual that went with it.”