There are many things we expect to change as we get older (more laughter lines, needing stretchy waistbands and reading glasses…), but having no one to talk to is probably not one of them. So it may come as a surprise to learn that an epidemic of loneliness is affecting women, particularly from midlife onwards, in the UK.
Despite living in an age in which we’re more ‘connected’ than ever (mobile phones, the internet, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp groups), the number of over-50s experiencing loneliness is set to reach two million by 2025/6, compared with around 1.4 million in 2016/7. According to the Campaign to End Loneliness, between December 2021 and February
