Ash Sarkar: The Future of Relationships

Sarkar takes up the mantle as the inaugural speaker for the Southbank Centre Lecture – a new annual event bringing in leading public figures to unpack the pressing topics of today.

In 2026, we’re more connected to each other than in any other period of history. We can FaceTime family in other countries, message friends on countless different social media platforms and arrange a date with a stranger in minutes. By all metrics, we should be swimming in meaningful and enriching relationships.

But with the World Health Organization reporting that loneliness is linked to nearly 900,000 deaths globally each year, and with over a quarter of UK adults battling chronic isolation, is the increase in connection just an illusion?

What is causing this decline in the quality of our relationships? Are the systems that were once heralded as the means of bringing us together, in fact, just driving us apart? And how can we reclaim our real-life social networks and fight for a world that brings us back together?

Sarkar is a writer, lecturer and broadcaster based in London. A contributing editor at Novara Media, her work focuses on current affairs, popular culture, politics and social issues.

She’s written for The Guardian, HuffPost UK and The Independent, and is a frequent presence on British television and radio, including on Question Time, Good Morning Britain and Radio 4’s Moral Maze. Minority Rule, published by Bloomsbury, is her first book and a Sunday Times bestseller.