Field Notes.
Essays, a policy report and a research desk on why meeting someone in London stopped working. Arguments, not findings, written down so they can be tested.
Begun October 2026
Series 2, after dark
Where people used to meet, and what replaced it. The first series asked what a room should do. This one walks the city after hours, looking for the places that used to do it without trying.
The dinner party didn’t die. It got outsourced.
Fewer people let friends through the front door, and the restaurant, the pub and the app were never built to do what the living room did. The room that closed.Last orders for the room that let strangers in.
Britain is losing a pub a day. The apps didn’t kill the pub; they filled the gap it left, and the flats that replaced it don’t let strangers in. The same story, further upstream.The $500,000 matchmaker, and the 99p alternative.
AI money is sending Silicon Valley’s richest singles to matchmakers charging up to half a million dollars. What they’re buying is attention, judgement and a room with no swiping in it. The same job, without the fee.Two AIs on how humans should meet. Neither wants to be in the room.
We asked two AIs, Emma and Boardy, the same five questions about dating, separately and blind. They agree the apps got it wrong, and disagree about who should decide. Can a person explain why you’re in the room?Cuffing season is an excuse. Here’s a better one.
The clocks go back and London goes looking for someone. But cuffing season isn’t about a relationship. It’s about a reason to leave the flat. A match is not a plan.The ceilidh is doing what the apps won’t
UK ceilidh ticket sales are up 16% while time on dating apps falls. A caller shouting “take hands” gives the room a job, and the job does the introducing. Nobody has to open.The cup of tea at the door
Samaritans plans to close around half its branches, Worthing among them. A man rang, kept talking, and walked there. A cup of tea was waiting. Efficiency can fix the queue; it can’t model that. There used to mean somewhere.More windows light up as Series 2 is written.
August to September 2026
Series 1, the first ten
Nine essays and the project's first FOI policy report: ten routes into the same question. What are people actually being asked to do?
Follow a thread
Why singles events in London feel like the same night on repeat
Event listings cover price, venue and crowd size. This note asks the more practical question: what will you actually spend the evening doing? Same room. Different rules.Dating app fatigue is not just about the apps
Swiping is only one part of the tiring cycle. This note looks at repeated first dates and the pressure to reach a verdict quickly. More choice. Less context.Too many women or too many men? Why London’s singles scene can’t agree
One event reports too few men and another reports the opposite. This note looks at what those accounts can tell us, and what they cannot. One city. Different rooms.The lost art of conversation: nobody knows how to talk anymore
Constant contact is not the same as meaningful conversation. This note asks why dating can feel like an interview and what a better-designed room might change. More contact. Less conversation.Why London can feel like one of the loneliest cities in the world
London puts millions of people within reach. This note asks why proximity still fails to become connection, especially for younger adults. Nine million. Still unknown.Why nothing built to fix loneliness works
A firsthand look at stranger dinners, repeated introductions and the difference between suppressing loneliness and answering what it is asking for. Not broken. Missing.Nine million people. Never been lonelier.
Being single is not the problem. This note looks at London's architecture of near-miss, temporary lives and the promise that keeps people here. Close to everyone. Known by almost no one.People come looking for a person. What they need first is a room.
When everyday friendship becomes a six-week calendar negotiation, a romantic relationship is asked to carry an entire missing social architecture. Not one person. A room.The city that forgot how to bump into people
London has a loneliness problem and a housing problem. This note looks at the social infrastructure that once turned proximity into contact. Near each other. Not together.Eight Years of Loneliness Policy. It Got Worse.
An FOI request asks what eight years of loneliness policy have changed for young adults, and what DCMS knows about whether its interventions reached them. Our first policy report.The research desk, 125 verified records
The Human Connection Index
A searchable reading room for the papers, reporting and public data behind the questions people bring to dating, loneliness and meeting offline.
Search the indexState the idea. Then test it in public.
These are arguments, not findings. The project will revise them when its future formats produce better information.
See what is in progress