All the Lonely People, Where Do They All Come From?

They come from the U.K., apparently, where the government has seen fit to create--yes!--a Ministry of Loneliness.

Sounds like the title of a bad Graham Greene novel, no?

Now, I'm no social scientist, but it seems to me that "loneliness" is a symptom/manifestation of something else, something larger. Societal breakdown? The spiritual emptiness that's a function of a life replete with hedonistic self-indulgence and devoid of any connectedness to a higher power or sense of purpose?

Something alone those lines, I think.