Mervyn kohler biography

Age UK’s External Affairs Adviser explains why there must be a full response to helping the elderly this winter:

Loneliness seems to be rising.

More older people cite loneliness as part of their lives; more surveys indicate the scale of its incidence.

The latest, from Age UK, shows that 60% of over 65s won’t find much festive happiness with their families over Christmas, and its ‘No-one should have no-one at Christmas’ campaign highlights that over a million older people say they haven’t spoken to a friend, neighbour or family member for over a month.

The reasons are not hard to see.

Families are more geographically scattered than ever before due to factors such as increasing divorce rates and the changing job market; working families live busy, hectic lives; and as more of us use electronic communications, older people risk being isolated from conversation channels.

Yet loneliness is a serious health hazard, and is closely linked to depres