In response to Laura Perrins: £20million splurge on handing out hugs, Barry Sheridan wrote:
As others have noted, the growth of loneliness is essentially a product of government policy through its assault on the family. European states, and this is a Europe-wide problem, have pursued divisive policies that have done immense harm to relations between men and women, young and old, to the point where many men no longer want to consider any form of relationship with women or children. The scary attitudes of authority in interpreting concern and interest in the fate of others by any man as malign has done its work. How quaint, then, that government thinks money it does not have is the way to salvation. Still, no one can ever accuse governments of having the ability to see how their own actions destroy everything they touch. Ronald Reagan said the most terrifying words in the English language were ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help’. How right he was.
