"Marriages hit new low"

Just to show that it's not just the lefties who want the government interfere in people's private lives, Jill Kirby, director of the Centre for Policy Studies responded by saying "It's obviously worrying that they have reached such a low ebb but perhaps not surprising in view of the lack of Government policy over the last 10 years encouraging marriage".

Wrong, wrong, wrong! It is not the job of the government to encourage anything, however worthy. It is far more important for the government not to encourage single-parenthood and penalise marriage via the welfare and tax system. And to recognise pre-nuptial contracts, even if couples are only ask to tick one of three boxes*, as in many European countries.

Furthermore, the tax and welfare system has long discriminated against couple families, in particular since the Tories introduced independent taxation in 1990. We can't just blame Nulab for all this.

* Complete separation of assets; complete pooling of everything to be shared 50/50 on divorce; or compromise whereby pre-marital assets are ringfenced but any net gain during the marriage is shared 50/50. Doing away with the presumption that the woman gets the house and the kids and is entitled to maintenance would help as well.