Insights, reflections and commentary from our team on marriage, commitment and family life — exploring the stories and ideas behind our research.
(photo credit PA) Embarrassing details of the marriage between Hugh and Tini Owens have now been splashed all over our papers and news. After many
What is the government doing to strengthen families? Given that providing support for families that have broken down costs £51 billion per year at last
Amicable or acrimonious, civilised or conflicted, cooperative or combative, whatever form it takes family breakdown was never the dream. Family always begins with an act
In December last year the government produced its green paper on children’s mental health. The opening paragraph begins with an optimistic note that the state
I could have written it myself. In her foreword for a new report from IFS on spending on children’s services, Children’s Commissioner Anne Longfield, said this:
Royal wedding preacher Michael Curry had it right when he said ‘there is power in love‘. And with love in the air, yes, ITV’s hit
Government policy on marriage is lukewarm at best and downright ambivalent at worst. On the one hand, the state is terribly interested in marriage. We have strict
There’s a deep irony about the subject of marriage and men. On the one hand, marriage appears to benefit men more than women. Men’s health
We don’t know each other but we have important things in common – and it’s not just that we are both Harrys and both former
Harry and Meghan have just done it. His older brother did it a few years ago. Some of his cousins have done it. And his father
Marriage is ‘heteronormative’ and ‘patriarchal‘, according to lawyers representing a couple in the Supreme Court this week. Their gripe is that whereas same sex couples
The UK has the highest level of family instability in the entire developed world. Our epidemic levels of family breakdown were highlighted in a recent international