VIDEO: Stephen Colbert tears apart UK’s appointment of a Minister for Loneliness

American TV show host Stephen Colbert tore apart British Prime Minister Theresa May's decision to appoint a Minister for Loneliness on his recent show. And, through hypothetical situations tried to understand how something like this would work.

By: Trends Desk
New Delhi | Updated: January 21, 2018 10:04 PM IST

2 min read

American comedian Stephen Colbert is rather amused with British Prime Minister Theresa May's decision to appoint a Minister for Loneliness. (Source:

British PM Theresa May, in an effort to deal with the gnawing problem of loneliness, recently appointed Tracey Crouch as the country’s first-ever minister to combat social isolation. According to a 2017 research, more than 9 million people always – or often – feel lonely in Britain and around 200,000 older people have not had a conversation with a friend or relative in more than a month. Whether appointing a Minster for Loneliness will solve this problem or not is a separate debate, but the incredulity of the decision has not escaped American TV show host Stephen Colbert. Recently, in his show The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the comedian tore apart May’s decision and said, “This is so British. They’ve identified the most ineffable human problem, and come up with the most cold, bureaucratic solution.”

Trying to figure out how something like this would work, Colbert conjured up an imaginary scenario where people would send applications of their loneliness, but they would be denied. “The Ministry has reviewed your application and you are not lonely enough. Your application for affection has been denied,” Colbert said.