Do single people get a raw deal?

Single people make up a large proportion of the population in Britain. People are marrying later and less, getting divorced more often, and living longer. Although not all people who live alone are single, the growth of one-person households now outstrips the rise in the UK population - and is projected to continue. And yet life in Britain often seems ill-suited to their needs. Being single is expensive and modern dating can be brutal. The idea that being in a couple provides greater happiness and fulfillment still has a tight grip on our collective psyche. So is it right to say that singles get discriminated against? And are there ways we might re-imagine life in Britain so that singles get a fairer deal?

Producer: Ant Adeane

Editor: Clare Fordham

Sound Engineer: Kelly Young

Production Coordinators: Maria Ogundele and Sabine Schereck

Contributors:

Amy Key - Poet and Author of Arrangements in Blue: Notes of Love and Making a Life

Sarah Harper - Professor of Gerontology at the University of Oxford

Emma John - Journalist and Author of Self Contained: Scenes from a Single Life

Ben Arogundade - Author of My Terrifying, Shocking, Humiliating, Amazing Adventure in Online Dating

Elyakim Kislev - Professor of Public Policy and Government at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and author of numerous books about single life

Sasha Roseneil - Sociologist and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sussex