A simple policy on marriage for Mrs May
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 laws on who can marry and how marriages can end, and we have special rules that favour transfers of assets between husband and wife in life and after death. But […]
Cheap sex, so why should men marry?
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 in particular, for example, is better among those who get and stay married. On the other hand, men appear to resist marriage more than women. In a couple of surveys […]
The ‘burning injustice’ that the poor no longer marry
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 has even done it twice. Indeed it would be considered quite odd if Prince Harry and Meghan Markle hadn’t got married. Royal weddings and marriages are a bit of a […]
Does marriage really get worse over time?
Ever since the 1930s, conventional wisdom among researchers has been that marriage tends to start off looking good and then gradually deteriorates over time. Although most studies have followed couples over the first few years of marriage, a handful of studies have covered as long as forty years. Nonetheless the overall conclusion has been clear. The longer marriages […]
Church school report: 10 out of 10 on marriage, but next time show your workings!
The Church of England has just released its response to the Department for Education consultation on Relationship and Sex Education (“RSE”) in schools. The really good bit is their robust and unashamed view that marriage must be included in RSE as: “a relationship of trust, loyalty and fidelity“, “a spiritual relationship based on Christ’s relationship with the […]
Marriage at an all time low
Today’s release from the Office for National Statistics reveals that marriage has hit an all-time low. The number of weddings in 2015 was 239,020, down 3.4 per cent on the previous year. Marriage rates, the proportion of unmarried people who marry in any given year, are now at their lowest level since records began, more […]
Plan your baby if you want to stay together, finds Marriage Foundation
PRESS RELEASE FROM MARRIAGE FOUNDATION Date: 06 February 2018 Plan your baby if you want to stay together, finds Marriage Foundation Couples who plan their first pregnancy have a higher chance of staying together long-term than those who do not, a new study from Marriage Foundation has found. Under a fifth (18 per cent) of […]
Get married to keep kids off benefits, finds new report
British adults whose parents were married at the time of their birth were 16 per cent less likely to ever receive benefits, a new study by Marriage Foundation has found. They were also 23 percent more likely to have been to university and 10 percent more likely to have got married themselves. Although overall adults […]
Rich kids on benefits?
One of the most common critiques of the supposed advantages of marriage is that married adults and their children only do better because of their education and money. It’s not marriage that conveys the advantages of life. It’s just that those who are better educated are more likely to get married. They then go on […]
Hopelessly unhappy? Drifting apart? Before you give up hope for your marriage, read this …
(Reproduced from January 2018) I know. Maybe your marriage is a mess. It’s drifting, it’s become functional, it’s lost the love and it’s not what you dreamed. In short it needs a kick up the backside. Maybe you’ve even finally decided it’s over. At last you’ve summoned up the courage to call it a day. […]