At least, this is what happens to a pulsar that is the remains of a lonely, companionless star such as the sun.

ECONOMIST: The dizziest, giddiest stars

What is The Social Network if not a depiction of a lonely crowd?

FORBES: The Lonely Network

What makes Mr Blair look lonely in his bottom-right box is the absence, now that Mr Mandelson has gone, of a single senior colleague who shares both his economic beliefs and his vision of political strategy.

ECONOMIST: Politics

You are scared stupid at what you are doing, but it is also exciting and makes you feel less lonely in the world.

NEWYORKER: Miss Lora

William Rehnquist, the chief justice, has fought a long and often lonely battle to roll back what he sees as the overextension of federal power, a subject which is also a hobby horse of many Republican politicians.

ECONOMIST: The Supreme Court