Fancy a chat? Let us make a connection...
FEELING lonely in lockdown? Would you like to connect with someone new for a chat?
The Daily Express is inviting readers to sign up for Britain Connects, an online version of our Britain Talks campaign.
It is designed to bridge the gap between people of all ages and opinions and keep the lines of communication open while coronavirus keeps us at home.
It comes a year after we launched Britain Talks to get the country chatting and heal the Brexit divide.
Retired nurse Lynda FeltonScott, 75, and politics student Jovan Nepaul, 23 – are Britain Connects’ first participants.
They have very different lives but both have struggled with the effects of lockdown.
Lynda’s health problems mean she is self-isolating at home and receiving food parcels. Jovan has been forced to come home
from university and is now volunteering in the community.
After connecting via online app Zoom the pair chatted for nearly two hours.
Lynda, from Batley, Yorkshire, said of Jovan: “On paper we seem different. But we share a lot of the same values. I’d love to go out for a cup of tea with him when the lockdown is over.”
Jovan, who hails from West Bromwich, said: “I would have Join Britain Connects and ‘meet’ someone different to you online – on the weekend of May 22-24. To take part, fill in our questionnaire online via the link below or go to express.co.uk/ britainconnects. We’ll do the rest. We’ll match you with someone and set up a video meeting. Join at https://www.smartsurvey. co.uk/s/britainconnects/ never spoken to someone like Lynda in my normal life. But we had a lot in common.”
The Daily Express is working in conjunction with scientists from the Behavioural Insights Team research agency for Britain Connects.
Senior adviser for the team Antonio da Silva said: “The coronavirus crisis has created a shared experience without precedent for all of us. This unique situation also means that while we adjust to the pandemic there is an opportunity to connect and bring people closer together as never before.”
“Whoever we are, we are all facing this together.
“With your help this could be a unique moment of connection and a positive and meaningful way of marking a one-off moment in global history and all of our lives.”