In an age when there are winners and losers, and nothing in between, as our language shifts to reflect the declining aspirations of children who desire fame and wealth over skills and knowledge, George Monbiot writes that we have reached a stage in time when “For the most social of creatures, who cannot prosper without love, there is no such thing as society, only heroic individualism. What counts is to win. The rest is collateral damage.”

He points out that loneliness has become epidemic among young and old people, and the rate is rising astonishingly quickly. Unfortunately, it seems that our lives have become “nasty, brutish and long.”

Read his full article in The Guardian.