The following article by Chris Tribble discusses the uses of words associated with last, first, begin and end in the (Manchester) Guardian Weekly.

Beginnings of the end

It was the now infamous British politician Enoch Powell who commented: "All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and of human affairs". Given what's been happening to certain politicians' careers of late (think Mugabe, Brown, Bush), I wondered what begins and ebds in the Gurdian Weekly archive? What comes first and what comes last.

The first thing I noticed is that last (60,426) occurs more frequently than first (42,555), and end (17,395) occurs more frequently than beginning (3,365). Last is most frequently found with units of time: week, year, month, weekend and then, Sunday, Saturday and Friday. In the same list, Summer (position 11) is more newsworthy than either Autumn (31), Spring (52) or Winter (71). Other last things include: chance, word, ditch (as in a last ditch attempt), moment, gaso, stand, orders, straw, supper and laugh.

First seems to give better insights into what has been newsworthy. Time-related terms still matter, with first time (4,076) way ahead of the rest (year, day) but then the time connection gives way to sports (half, three, place, round, test, set, division, class, innings, leg, world) and politics (president, minister, lady).

Looking at what has been first also gives an insight into women's changing access to power. So we find first woman prime minister, president, chancellor, secretary of state, leader, head, supreme court judge and first woman to lead, head, hold, serve.

The majority of things that end are again time-related, but you also find war, life, world, book and road. The kinds of end also give food for thought as they include dead, receiving, sharp, bitter, wrong, abrupt and tail.

Curiously, it is most frequently reported that war, records, campaign, government, weel, crisis, uprising, process, work, career, trial and Intifada began, but that problems, government, work, talks and negotiations begin. In strange contrast, begins goes with story, book, novel, season, trial, life, year, campaign and work.

We will have to keep reading to find out for whom recent events will lead to the beginning of the end.