In the UK, 80% of people who kill themselves are men. Suicide is now the single biggest killer of young guys in the UK. But very few people know that fact. Even fewer are talking about it.

Various deeply ingrained cultural pressures have resulted in the UK having one of the highest male suicide rates in the world. In the UK, guys are told to ‘man up’ when faced with an issue. Showing your emotions is still perceived as weakness. The British ‘stiff-upper-lip’ is still a core expectation of being a man. Inevitably, this leaves guys vulnerable when things go wrong.

Despite the alarming statistics, the issue had never even been debated in Parliament. And it certainly isn’t being talked about on the streets. This trend will continue unabated until we start talking about the scale of the problem openly.