Skip to main content
Socialists against social isolation
The freer the market has become since the 1980s, the more people have felt lost and hopeless, separated from their communities and turned against their class — fighting back against this is now a socialist imperative, writes DEAN CAIRNS

BRITAIN today faces a crisis of social atomisation. More and more, adults are reporting feelings of loneliness and atomisation from their local communities.

According to findings from the Community Life Survey 2016-17, over 45 per cent of adults reported that they had experienced feeling alone.

This affects all age groups, and while it acutely affects the elderly and those living with disabilities, there is a significant increase in reports of loneliness among those in the lower-age cohort (16-24 years).

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
People sit along the edge of an abandoned swimming pool across from a tanker terminal along the port of Matanzas, Cuba, March 30, 2026
Features / 4 April 2026
4 April 2026

CLAUDIA WEBBE says the US is tightening the noose to destroy Cuban socialism — the need for immediate, international solidarity is urgent

Claudia Jones
International Women’s Day 2026 / 7 March 2026
7 March 2026

The pioneering activist understood that freedom could only be won through solidarity across communities. Her legacy offers vital lessons at a time when progressive politics risks losing that shared purpose

The Morning Star republishes PRAGNA PATEL’s speech at the annual commemoration of Claudia Jones on February 22 2026

LIBERATION: Mission Robinson literacy class in the La Vega neighbourhood of Caracas. Applying the Cuban literacy method ‘Yes, I can!’ - the state provides free textbooks and educational videos / Piv: Oriana Elicabe/orianomada/flickr/CC
Features / 13 February 2026
13 February 2026

ISAAC SANEY points to the global stakes involved in defending the Cuban revolution against imperialism and calls for resistance

Graffiti that reads Austerity is Failing
Features / 30 August 2025
30 August 2025

Our charter’s demands for fair pay, affordable housing and environmental security will recruit working-class youth into the political struggle for socialism, emulating the success of the Women’s Charter, writes YCL general secretary GEORGINA ANDREWS