Comedy of Loneliness

The Federal Cabinet recently approved a catalogue of no fewer than 111 measures to combat loneliness. Loneliness, it states, increases the risk of obesity, depression, heart attacks, and Alzheimer's disease, and is a complex problem affecting society as a whole, one that incurs high costs and can become a threat to democracy. There are 14 million lonely people in Germany alone, and as a result of the pandemic, the number of those who describe the...