Before we start this episode, I wanted to let you know that I will be in conversation with the brilliant author and broadcaster Candice Brathwaite at the Lyric in Soho on the 1st of November, talking all about the themes of this podcast and more.

You can book tickets at feign.co.uk forward slash Pandora.

So we know that loneliness can lead people to feeling more hostile towards others and also to perceiving the world as a more threatening place.

And we see the ramifications of this playing out politically.

Music out politically. You're listening to Season 2 of Doing It Right with me, Pandora Sykes, a podcast where I talk to experts about the myths, anxieties and trends of modern life.

There's no such thing as the right life. But what might we be getting wrong? In this series, I'll be exploring the ins and outs

of sex, self-care and sadness, and lobbing big questions at my guests like, could a full-day

work week ever really take off? Why is society getting

lonelier? And what would a fair justice system look like? This is a podcast that asks what can we

do to live life better? Not just for ourselves, but for everyone. What does it mean to be lonely?

What does a lonely world look like?

Noreena Hertz is an economist and thought leader

based at the Institute for Global Prosperity at UCL

and the author of four books.

Her most recent book, The Lonely Century,

is a fascinating and sprawling look of the epidemic of loneliness,

which saw Norena travelling all over the world to see what loneliness looks like and how it manifests.

In her fascinating book, Norena argues that loneliness is not a symptom of the pandemic, but the defining condition of the 21st century. In our chat recorded in late June, we discuss why loneliness is higher in cities where people walk faster,

how architecture can encourage loneliness, and what the man who sold his car to pay for cuddles tells us about the loneliness economy,

an array of products and services

that encourage the idea that you can buy your way out of loneliness. And on a positive note,

we talk about how robots can help with social care. There are even little old ladies in Japan

...