Noel Whelan: Loneliness is not just for Christmas

This has been a year of much dysfunction in British politics, but there was one important cross-party initiative which is worthy of imitation here in Ireland. Last week the report of a commission on loneliness in Britain, the Jo Cox Commission, was launched by two MPs, Labour’s Rachel Reeves and Seema Kennedy, a Tory.

The initiative was named after the late Jo Cox, a Labour MP who was stabbed to death by a lone attacker after she left a clinic in her constituency in June 2016. In fact the initiative for such a commission was her idea. In her short parliamentary career Cox had sought to drive loneliness up the Westminster political agenda as both a health and community issue. Some resisted her efforts, failing to see the urgent political and public policy dimensions, and seemingly content to leave it to the charity sector.

Cox persisted, telling parliament how loneliness does not discriminate. It affects all ages and income brackets. It can be exacerbated, of course, by marginality, class and discrimination, but life-altering events such as bereavement, leaving home or relationship break down make everyone vulnerable to chronic social isolation.

Indeed, Cox spoke frequently of her own loneliness when she moved to university, and how the problem of isolation was so prominent in her constituency casework.

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Following her death colleagues from all parties came together to honour Cox’s legacy by progressing her work on the issue. The commission on loneliness was renamed in her memory and formally launched in Westminster in January 2017.

Over the last year the commission has worked with 13 organisations, including charities such as Age UK, Carers UK and Action for Children, to develop ideas for change that can start to tackle the problem.

Manifesto for action

The commission has shone a spotlight on the many affected groups, including men, older people, refugees, disabled people, children and parents, and carers. This week it returned to Cox’s Batley and Spen constituency to publish its key recommendations as a manifesto for action.

There is a greater awareness of the mental health impacts of social isolation but not, perhaps, of the speed at which it can lead to acute anxiety and depression

The most recent assessments of the scale of the problem from health professionals and charities are detailed in the report. Nine million people in Britain are always or often lonely. One in 10 older people often go a month without seeing family, friends or neighbours. For 3.6 million people in Britain aged 65 and over, television is the main form of company.

Yet loneliness is also a problem for younger people. Some 40 per cent of 17- to 25-year-olds said they felt lonely. Eight out 10 carers experience loneliness. One in 10 men said they were lonely but would not admit it to anyone.

GPs told the commission of seeing as many as five people a day in their surgeries suffering from chronic isolation.

The report also sets out how scientific evidence confirms that a lonely life is a shorter life. The impact on physical health can be as bad as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

There is a greater awareness of the mental health impacts of social isolation but not, perhaps, of the speed at which it can lead to acute anxiety and depression.

The report calls for the gap in national leadership on the issue to be tackled by putting in place a national strategy led by a minister, and for all government policies to be “family and relationship” proofed so as to make sure they do not add to isolation

The report, however, is not an exercise in dumping the problem on government. The authors point out that while government cannot solve loneliness alone it can play a key role in “galvanising the key players, catalysing action, assessing and comparing progress, and holding those who need to act accountable”.

Public consciousness

The Jo Cox Commission has already engaged with the advertising industry to develop campaigns raising public consciousness on the issue, and raising awareness about the role which individuals can play in containing and reversing the epidemic.

Incredible work is done all year by many charities and community organisations. It needs to be more intensely supported by co-ordinated political action

Isolation arises from a lack of contact with or a withdrawal from contact with other people. The capacity to counter loneliness lies in the willingness of others to reach out beyond those gaps in human engagement.

This weekend many of us will make a special effort to check in with neighbours who we sense may be spending too much time on their own. Loneliness is not only for Christmas, however. In Ireland we may wish to think our community bonds are stronger that in other countries, but there is every indication that social isolation is as chronic a problem here as elsewhere.

Incredible work is done all year by many charities and community organisations. It needs to be more intensely supported by co-ordinated political action. A cross-party Oireachtas-led commission on loneliness would be a good place to start. It should be a New Year’s resolution for new politics.