Britain’s loneliness epidemic must be tackled — but first we must all come together

Lonely task

BRITAIN’S loneliness epidemic is reaching crisis point.

New figures show that it’s not just the elderly who are feeling isolated.

The PM deserves credit for appointing the first Minister for Loneliness, Tracey Crouch, who is right that it’ll take a national effort to tackle it.

But Government does have a role.

It could start by demanding councils divert much-needed cash to youth clubs, rather than blowing it on sky-high salaries and golden goodbyes.

And pubs could do with a break from licensing restrictions and outrageous business rates. It’s hard to take your granddad for a pint if his local’s gone.

But the minister’s drive to get us talking about loneliness is worthy of congratulation. The isolated shouldn’t be abandoned behind net curtains.

Time to come together.

Magician Jez

OLL up, Jeremy Corbyn’s magical mystery tour of pricey giveaways is here again.

This time the Labour leader’s star attraction is free bus travel for under 25s, paid for by… well, that’s the magical mystery bit.

This is just the latest in Labour’s line of naked bribes to the electorate.  Don’t worry, somebody else will pay for it.

Except that’s simply not true. Each of these half-baked policies will have to be funded somehow — either by tax hikes or by going even further into debt.

If Corbyn and McDonnell get the keys to the economy, we’ll be driven straight off the cliff.

Face ’em down

MARK Zuckerberg’s appearance in front of US senators has been revealing.

We’re still not sure the Facebook boss quite understands why everybody is so angry with him.

But he’s at least been clear on one thing: the company is responsible for the content on the site.

This might seem obvious, but the tech giants have claimed for years that the extremist hate and propaganda polluting their sites is nothing to do with them.

It’s good news Facebook have finally admitted that it’s their problem — now they need to deal with it.

Stamp duty

WHAT do the pool frog, the Eurasian beaver and the UK joining the European Economic Community have in common?

Each has been deemed worthy of a Royal Mail stamp.

Yet the firm still has no plans to mark our departure from the EU, despite Brexiteers and Remainers alike agreeing it is a genuinely historic moment.

Commemorating it would get our stamp of approval.