The church has surrendered on marriage
Today marks the launch of the Church of England’s report on Families and Households. You can download and read the report for yourself here. We contributed extensively to the commission and one of our contributions actually makes a highlighted appearance on page 44, without a namecheck. The relevant section is pages 31-58. Alas the title […]
Shaun Bailey on marriage
Watch the full video here Politicians I am stood here today because quite frankly I’m astonished that other politicians don’t speak about marriage publicly in a positive way. As a politician there are many things that you try to body swerve because they’re just not worth the effort. But I’m astonished that marriage is seen […]
Why the act of marriage makes a difference
This is one of several talks I gave in Prague in February 2022 to celebrate Czech marriage week (reading time 10 minutes) It would be easy to think that marriage is on the way out. Indeed many prominent commentators think exactly that. After all, marriage rates have been falling across the developed world since the […]
Couples Talk – 8th Feb – 8pm LIVE!
UPDATE: you can listen to the full talk here Coming up on 8th February 8-9pm… with optional Q&A until 9.30pm Bringing you an hour of open, engaging conversation via Zoom to give you inspiration, hope and practical insights for your relationship Harry & Kate Benson JOIN us for an hour of raw, real life relationship […]
Why couples should get married
Everybody wants reliable love. Adults want it. Children want it. So it’s in everybody’s interests to find out what gives us our best chance of achieving this. According to commitment theory, there are two forces or bonds that keep couples together. DEDICATION is the internal bond between two people representing their new identity as a […]
Supporters of marriage should back the new divorce law
New divorce laws will come into effect next year. In essence, all divorces should now take 6 months from application to final approval. Some worry that this undermines the lifelong promise of marriage, giving one disgruntled spouse the right to pull the trigger at any time. That has been the case for fifty years. For […]
The future of marriage post-covid
Marriage rates will more than rebound after lockdown ends as couple reevaluate their lives. But will this be the start of a new uptrend? Marriage rates in the UK are currently at close to zero. When the government banned weddings as part of the lockdown measures, they may have meant just to ban gatherings. But, […]
In banning weddings, government has unintentionally banned marriages
Several people have written to me to ask how they can get married. Under the new coronavirus law, weddings are banned. As a result, churches and civil registrars have both closed their doors. We appear to have lost our right to marry. Societies throughout history have given special legal privileges to those who marry. In […]
Number 10 needs a Family Policy Unit
The costs – personal, social, economic – of family breakdown are vast and underappreciated. This is a social justice issue. My article for the political website ConservativeHome … A friend of ours is an amazing woman who has brought up her now teenage children on her own, having split from the father soon after their […]
Falling divorce rates mean more intact families, new ONS stats show
Falling divorce means more intact families, says Harry Benson, Research Director for Marriage Foundation New ONS Families and Household data for 2019 are released today “Today’s figures provide yet another reminder to politicians of all parties that if they want greater family stability, they must wholeheartedly back marriage and commitment. Despite the well-documented increase in […]