Social and political activism could improve your health and wellbeing (and get rid of the Tories too!)

The number of people living alone has almost doubled in the last 40 years, according to a recent study of 372,000 households.  That's 16% of us, compared to 9% in 1973.

Other research, involving 6,500 men and women, has found that social isolation increases the likelihood of death by a staggering 26%. 

An increasing number of us are choosing to live alone, or find ourselves doing so after failed relationships and this could be damaging our physical and mental wellbeing, both studies revealed.  Human beings are social, no other species has evolved to live in groups as large and complex as ours, but increasingly people report feeling socially and emotionally isolated, even though they might have a regular job and neighbours living all around them.

Most who report feelings of loneliness and isolation have a desperate craving to belong, to matter to other human beings, our brains are hardwired to connect with others, and this might explain why so many people joined in with demonstrations around the country, objecting to the £10 million funeral of a former prime minister, at a time when the very weakest and poorest in our society are having vital benefits withdrawn, because the chancellor insists this government can't afford to support these groups, as the previous Labour administration did.

The left could benefit from harnessing public anger and uniting in a formidable force to attack the coalition relentlessly, as the coalition has embarked on a prolonged and ruthless attack on the sick and poor since coming to office, 3 years ago.  There is certainly consensus for a campaign to give power to the people, but with the official Labour front bench reluctant to speak out against the government (and I've yet to hear a credible reason for their collusion with the cuts) the Tories appear to be getting away with murder - quite literally, some would say!

The Conservatives are a party of millionaires, they have extreme amounts of money and resources at their disposal certainly, but we should not be put off by this, for this obscene level of wealth can be highlighted to rouse the people from impotent slumber, to show how sickeningly unfair it is to make the poorest and most vulnerable pay for a banking crisis they had absolutely nothing to do with.

I urge political commentators, back bench MPs, workers, bloggers and sufferers at the mercy of these heartless sons of Thatcher, to continue applying pressure to the government, and to the mainstream media alike, to support one another and to embrace the challenge ahead and  to force the change we need. There are thousands of us, tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, who are keen to connect with our fellow human beings and take this government to task, and to hold David Cameron to account and consign these vicious Tories, for once and for all, to the dustbin of history.