Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday appointed Minister for Sport and Civil Society, Tracey Crouch as minister for loneliness.
”For far too many people, loneliness is the sad reality of modern life,” the Prime Minister said.
”I want to confront this challenge for our society and for all of us to take action to address the loneliness endured by the elderly, by carers, by those who have lost loved ones โ people who have no one to talk to or share their thoughts and experiences with,” she added.
British Red Cross reports that out of a population of 65.6 million, 9 million say they are always or often lonely.
A commission on loneliness was set up by former Member of Parliament Jo Cox before she was murdered by a white supremacist in 2016.
”This is an issue that Jo cared passionately about and we will honour her memory by tackling it, helping the millions of people across the UK who suffer from loneliness,” she said.
The Jo Cox Foundation lauded Tracey’s appointment saying: ”She would be delighted by Tracey Crouch’s new job as minister for loneliness and would be saying ‘let’s get to work!”
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Also jolly about the new ministry was the deceased’s husband, Brendan who said: ”One of the awful things about losing Jo is knowing how much difference she would have made in the world.”
”When the kids wake up this morning I’m going to tell them how โ even though she’s not here โ she’s still making the world a better place,” he said.
Nigeria’s Imo State created a ministry of happiness and couples fulfillment which was met with a lot of criticism especially from social media users.
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