Steve Regan: the King of Hull continued previous page

Every so often one reads about desperately sad suicides. Some lives, unbearably, end in utter desolation and/or squalor - without the dignity that should always be given to human life, even (and perhaps especially) at the point of death. Some of those who take their own lives have been pathologically disturbed for years. But other people - and they are predominantly men - who kill themselves suffer from comparatively mild forms of mental illness or from loneliness.

That loneliness can become a huge problem is undeniable. Social isolation is a greater danger than ever before - because of the way modern life is. Another factor is that men have greater problems of identity these days. We have been derided and demeaned publicly as a gender group. We are variously and collectively portrayed as violent, dangerous, dirty and predatory.

Also, I feel that a man who lives alone is often regarded with suspicion by the neighbours, which is bitterly unfair, and sometimes he will meet with downright hostility. Like many others, I used to feel that suicide was wrong no matter what the circumstances or the gender of the person. I used to think that suicide was like spitting into the face of God and a cruel thing to inflict on surviving family members, who are left feeling they could have, should have, done more to help the dead person.

In fact, there is comparatively little even the most loving family members can do if a person is determined to take his or her own life. No living person should blame themselves for a suicide.

After reading up on this issue, I have completely changed my mind about suicide being somehow wrong because "wrong" is just not to appropriate word for this act of hopelessness. It would imply that the person was in a position to make moral choices, which is not the case. When people are feeling suicidal, they are so desperately ill that their personalities are transformed. They need help. They are not capable of rational decisions and their emotional responses are grotesquely distorted.

Suicide is certainly a pitiful waste of a life but we should not blame the people who "commit" it. If anyone reading this is feeling low, I want them to know that they are not suffering alone, and that - truly - a very good step towards getting help is to ring the Samaritans. Here are the numbers - 01482 323456 or 08457 909090. Please believe me, things can get better. You are not alone.

Columns - Steve Regan: The Return of The King
	MY visit to Hull last weekend was a blast. I came, I hugged, I drank and I lost my mobile phone in The Piper. The phone's since been returned to me. A reporter from the Hull Daily Mail had picked it up accidentally and taken it home, thinking it was hers. Friday evening began with me slurping Read more...

Columns - Steve Regan: visits Hull
	NEWSFLASH! The King of Hull is making a State Visit to the city this weekend (April 24 and 25). Yes, Steve Regan will be among his people in person. He'll be popping up all around the city centre but if you would like to meet him go The Lamp bar between 5.15pm and 6.30pm where he will be having a pint or two on Saturday. Read more...

Columns - Steve Regan: the King of Hull's famous column
	AS some of you may have noticed - I'm back, back, BACK! My column has returned for the people of Hull, who have apparently missed it sorely since it disappeared from the Hull Daily Mail nearly two years ago. Even the Leader of Hell City Council, Colin Davros Inglis, has been complaining there are now no proper columnists locally to keep him and his Read more...

Columns - King of Hull by Steve Regan 15 April 2004
	OUR modern lives are plagued by pathological restlessness. We are never satisfied, always wanting to improve or change things or to move on to where we imagine the grass will be greener. This restlessness afflicts everyone to a degree. Do you know anyone who is perfectly contented, with his or her job, or lack of a job, emotional life, family circumstances or home? I recently met someone I hadn't seen for several years Read more...

Columns - Rupert, Ted and the Phantom Stink of Catpiss By Silver Fox
	According to a recent survey, Britain's international prestige has taken something of a knock of late. Foreign nationals either living in or visiting dear old Blighty have been asked what they think of www.mcunitedkingdom.com and many - and not all that varied - have been Read more...

Columns - The Buck Went Thataway By Silver Fox
	Firstly, I'd like to thank anyone who's pointed-and-clicked their way to my little information superhighway lay-by for a second time. It shows an entirely laudable spirit of forgiveness and optimism on your part; a spirit that you should be proud of and one that makes you very special indeed. To be honest, Read more...

Columns - Democracy - Not Everyone's Bag - The Silver Fox
	First things first: I ought to clarify what I'm doing here, taking up valuable space on your monitor - a space that I realise that so many of you consider an inviolate sanctuary for pictures of amusing deformity or make your own Semtex recipes. The fact is, it's all something of a mistake. Read more...

Articles - Things To Do Before You're 30 Part 2 By Sarah Tomlinson

	When I was younger, like most iddy-biddy girls, I had the dream of being a pop star. Singing, dancing, whatever on stage and having thousands of mad fans calling my name and singing the words of my latest single. Admittedly that dream carried on for me. So much so that it's kind of still there. But the dream of stardom Read more...

Articles - Made In Hull - Part 3 The Calm before, (The Storm) By Maurice Fairfield

	Things which happened in the thirties flutter by me like calendar leaves in an old movie and I try to catch some of them as they fly. There was the Graf Zeppelin which flew over Hull in 1932 as part of a goodwill tour. Many people believed that its crew were photographing the docks and industries Read more...

Articles - My Special Memory By John Firth
	I saw your stories on the site and it brought back so many memories of me home town Hull. I live in Baton Rouge, Louisiana now and haven't been home for 15 years but I still have me Hessle Road accent and attitude well intact. My grandma owned a fish shop on Redbourne Street and as a little lad Read more...

Articles - Stranger in a Strange Land By Rich Mills

	Concrete kid. That's what I told her I considered myself. Bollocks to the countryside. The fresh air would probably kill me! Urgh and the smell of cow-shit! Ah, how wrong could I have been? We travelled up to the Dales, far up in the north of our great county. A place where they have proper hills like! Not flat-land like 'ere! Dry-stone walls, sheep, Read more...