Yet there are solutions as well, approaches that build connections and bind us together. Britain is the pioneer of these efforts, having established the post of minister for loneliness in 2018. Britain oversees public-private partnerships that collectively knit millions of people together with programs like nature walks, songwriting workshops and community litter pickups.
Jeez. Wouldn’t it have been easier not to kill off the pub in the first place?
But in the pub they drink that ghastly grog, Tim.
Hasn’t the NHS or something pointed out how bad it is for you?
Ooo, will the Ministry be getting me state provided nookie? It’s my yuman rights, innit.
None of the activities cited are public-private partnerships where I live. My parish church does several programmes to “bring people together” and various members are leaders and/or major contributors of/to many others (including one specifically designed to cure loneliness).
The only ones organised by local government are, to my mind, a bit pathetic as they cannot cater for a semi-fit 77-year-old.
There are a variety of sports clubs that do a lot to alleviate loneliness, none of which are helped by government (in fact the gradual and progressive imposition of bureaucracy since I first joined one definitely hinders them) .
Pubs are for men, whereas songwriting workshops and community litter pickups attract women. Men are fundamentally allergic to such purpose-less socialisation.
@ Andrew M
You may have a point, but most of those on the last litter-pick-up that I attended were men. Litter pick-ups are neither puposeless nor, significantly, socialisation
”having established the post of minister for loneliness in 2018”
Hmmm ..reminds me of my favourite line from The Hunting of the Snark.
He had forty-two boxes, all carefully packed, With his name painted clearly on each: But, since he omitted to mention the fact, They were all left behind on the beach.
Would it be a novel concept to suggest that if you are lonely it’s your problem to fix?
Or, if that’s too reactionary, tell us the name of the minister and his address and it’s all round to his house for tea and crumpets.
What do they do all day in the Ministry of Loneliness?
Are they on facebook? writing blogs? playing solitaire? does anyone talk to the minister?
“Would it be a novel concept to suggest that if you are lonely it’s your problem to fix?”
Quite.
And here’s the thing… it’s never been so easy to find like-minded people. Meetup.com, Facebook groups. You’re into knitting, archery, dungeons and dragons? There’s a local group to join.
philip: What do they do all day in the Ministry of Loneliness?
WFH
Jesus, I spend most of my time wanting to be left alone……..a day where no one bothers me and I can do exactly as I please would be heaven.
Jim said:
“Jesus, I spend most of my time wanting to be left alone……..a day where no one bothers me and I can do exactly as I please would be heaven.”
Ah, you’re married too?
“Good morning Charles. Thank you for dropping by. The Prime Minister is extremely grateful for your support in the House on recent important legislation. You’ll no doubt be pleased to know he’s decided to appoint you as our new Minister for Loneliness. No. Don’t mention it, old chap. Only too pleased. Oh & the ministerial offices are on Rockall. The Navy will be providing a helicopter to fly you out on Friday. No that’s quite all right old chap. The door’s behind you.”
@WB
“And here’s the thing… it’s never been so easy to find like-minded people. Meetup.com, Facebook groups. You’re into knitting, archery, dungeons and dragons? There’s a local group to join.”
Dunno, maybe in the bigger cities this works, but one problem is a lot of these groups have simply gone online. Out in the provinces, the reality seems to be that a lot of the civic or social infrastructure is shutting down. (Probably is in cities too but my point is that cities are a better place to make connections, and there’s more chance of finding a surviving group of interest to you in a reasonable travel time.)
Some of this is related to Tim’s point about pubs closing, which brings an end to associated teams or leagues in sports or pub games, or pub quizzing or whatever. Also ends a venue which erodes the local music scene you might otherwise have been a part of. Somewhat similar concerns around the decline of churches, who also historically played host to a range of local groups, meetings, talks, concerts etc. Aside from acting as a host to local societies paying for use of the church hall, a church shutting down near me used to have its own official groups for drama, local interest talks, table tennis, a male voice choir, a women’s choir, a boy’s brigade, flower arranging, a mothers’ group, a weekend breakfast club for single men, and so on, which one by one shut down as the congregation aged and dwindled.
Even standalone clubs and societies not tied to a church or pub or school or whatever seem to be dwindling. My local paper used to have a page devoted to the schedule of local groups and societies. Almost everything that used to appear on that list has shut and the current listings are paltry. The town male voice choir (separate to the church affiliated one!), the “recorded music society” (who used to gather to listen to novel or rare LPs and eventually CDs before the age we could all just find what we wanted to hear online), the athletics club, some of the amateur football clubs, one of the local cricket clubs merged – essentially absorbed – into another, the am dram group (again, separate to the church associated one, similarly there were several local groups of flower arrangers including one that specialised in making fake flowers!), the debating society, the gardening association (whose annual show had been a significant town event), various needlework and other craft groups, a couple of local music groups (until quite recently the town had a rather elderly society of recorder players!), a foreign languages club… All consigned to the mists of time now.
There have been a few new groups spring up in their wake, notably the University of the Third Age which runs a broad range of events for the elderly. But most of the town’s civic life seems to have been swept away by the trend for people to meet virtually rather than offline. This has been the case in several towns I’ve lived in so I fear the “Bowling Alone” effect is real.