There was a study published recently by a charity with a lovely name — the Great Friendship Project — which was distinctly unlovely in the light it shone on the reality of the world we live in. For it told how perhaps the greatest of all pleasures, friendship, is for many at risk of dying out.
A fifth of under-35s said they had no real friends, or only one; triple the number of a decade earlier. It came after another body, the Campaign to End Loneliness, found those aged 16 to 29 were more likely than any older age group to say they feel “often or always” lonely.
