29 October 2015, The Tablet

The biggest killer


 
Name the biggest killer of men under the age of 45. Cancer? Violence? Road accidents? No: the answer is suicide.Every year, some 6,000 people in Britain take their own lives and, of those, 80 per cent are men. Seven years ago, the British rapper Professor Green, real name Stephen Manderson, lost his father to suicide. His father was 43. In Suicide and Me (27 October), Manderson went looking for answers to two questions: why did his father kill himself, and why are so many men doing the same?Manderson proved a sensitive and honest reporter, but it is true to say that he did not accomplish his task. How could he? Most suicides are a mystery. Many suicidal men display no warning signs and leave no explanatory note. His father was no exception, although it did not help Manderson’s under
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