Comment threads have been busy with honest and open discussion about chronic loneliness and how people have overcome it.
As GPs across Britain report working above safe levels because of relentless and unmanageable workloads, readers have been sharing their experiences. And there has been a lively debate around France’s offer to loan us the Bayeux tapestry – and what lies behind the goodwill and generosity.
To join in you can click on the links in the comments below to expand and add your thoughts. We’ll continue to highlight more comments worth reading as the day goes on.
Emmanuel Macron’s Bayeux tapestry loan is one in the eye for Brexiters
‘A timely reminder of how we are of Europe whether we like it or not’
Of course the suggestion that the UK might borrow the tapestry is political! A timely reminder of how we are of Europe whether we like it or not. I have always felt a British European, and being called English is now even more offensive to me than it has ever been.
The real language of Brexiters betrays their real motivations - and their hate for anyone who isn’t a part of their delusion.
beingsentient
‘An elaborate European in-joke to show up the insularity of the British’
It is typical that the Bayeux tapestry has to come to Britain so that Brits can see it, rather than the interested Brits travelling the few kilometers to Bayeux on, gasp, mainland Europe.
I suspect this is an elaborate European in-joke to show up the insularity of the British.
SteveInBavaria
‘They will be remembered in the history book as the demise of Britain’
I don’t think it’s one in the eye for Brexiters, and I don’t think Macron loaned it to the U.K to mock Brexiters. I think he did it as gesture of good will.
Brexiters are only going to screw themselves over, and their kids and possible the union of the U.K. They will be remembered in the history book as the demise of Britain.
Havingalavrov
Feeling lonely? Meet the people who suffered extreme isolation – then found happiness
‘Many of these bedbound people see no one but a carer’
There are many thousands of invisible lonely people in the UK who can’t hope to get a dog, or get out and socialise as they are housebound or bedbound with severe chronic disabling illness. As a mainly housebound wheelchair user who is often bedbound I would love to have friends and a social life and was a very sociable person before becoming ill. I’ve read a few of these loneliness articles recently and none of them address this issue.
ID2411130
‘However prepared you are to go out and meet others and be open, this is incredibly hard to do without money’
The article advises not to turn down invitations because soon they’ll stop coming but invitations nearly always mean spending money unless it’s a coffee at someone’s house. Going to the pub costs as does the theatre and meals out. Then there’s transport to groups and clubs and being able to afford a taxi to get safely home at night if not owning a car. Outside of London, there are few buses in the evening.
Pinkie123
‘Loneliness is getting worse due to people living fake lifestyles via screens’
We need to make our youngsters more resilient, maybe the drug user should question why they need them in the first place, all that partying probably wasn’t quite what they imagined. Loneliness is getting worse due to people living fake lifestyles via screens rather than socialising.
thriftynot
Family doctors working ‘beyond safe levels’, says GPs’ leader
‘Cameron and May governments have managed to turn the gold which was the NHS into base metal’
I waited almost an hour to see my GP for about five minutes, I would have liked longer but could see this once bright ‘we can do it’ GP was having a bad day , I suspect the previous patient had received unwelcome news, I remembered her stoicism in the waiting room.
I do not know how but the coalition and Cameron and May governments have managed to turn the gold which was the NHS into base metal.
GeoffreyFlynn
‘GP practices are businesses run by partners’
They can choose to employ more staff and to take on more partners in order to reduce their workload. When this point is put to them they say they advertise posts but they are not filled. Perhaps they should advertise the posts with more generous salaries. Then they would be filled. GP practices are businesses run by partners.
Steve Greig
Comments have been edited for length. This article will be updated throughout the day with some of the most interesting ways readers have been participating across the site.
