Introduction

Author Olivia Laing joins a Nesta panel on loneliness as a public-health crisis — and what it takes to rebuild shared realities and civic belonging in turbulent times. Featuring Daniel Gorman, Olivia Laing, and Heather Stewart.

A Public-Health Crisis

The loneliness epidemic in the UK has long been recognised as a public health crisis. The panel opens with the question: "Why are we optimistic about our own lives but pessimistic about the country's future?"

A Civic Crisis Too

But it is increasingly clear that loneliness is also a civic and political crisis — not just personal or emotional. The panel asks what it would take to rebuild spaces of genuine connection and civic belonging.

Fragmented by Design

In a society where many interactions are mediated by digital platforms, isolation is shaped by systems that fragment attention, amplify division, and weaken shared realities. The design of our information environment is part of the problem.

Rebuilding Connection

The panel asks what it would take to rebuild spaces of genuine connection and civic belonging — including a revival of public spaces. Connection is not just personal; it is something we build together.

The Voice Up Connection

Voice Up includes this panel because compassionate understanding means facing loneliness as a system, not just a feeling. Hold the public-health crisis next to the civic crisis, the fragmentation next to the rebuilding — and find your own purpose in the tension.

The Naming Gap

Loneliness as a civic crisis is a Naming Gap question: do we name the real mechanism (systems that fragment attention and weaken shared realities) or the comforting symbol (individuals choosing to be alone)? Systems fail when they recognize the symbol instead of the mechanism.

Make the Difference

Rebuilding public spaces is environment design. The panel wants connection built into the environment the way Voice Up builds purpose into a day — not as an emergency response, but as the environment itself.

The Purpose Games

The optimism paradox — optimistic about our own lives, pessimistic about the country — is a long-game question. Rebuilding civic belonging takes patience. Purpose is the practice of staying at the table for as long as connection takes.