Married couples are now a minority
Discussion
Shamelessly stolen from the mirror, but Married couples are in a minority in Britain for the first time since records began in 1862. Only one in every 50 single women now gets hitched each year.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/02/2...
Really doesn't surprise me.
Can some older PHers shed any light on what year the Government dropped the tax breaks for being married?
LP
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/02/2...
Really doesn't surprise me.
Can some older PHers shed any light on what year the Government dropped the tax breaks for being married?
LP
on a slight tangent, I was interested to note during "who do you think you are" with Rick Stein, that back in the 1930's, if a married woman had an affair, she lost all her rights, children home etc etc. Now I wonder if this rule was still in place today, there would be less divorces/affairs? the reason being that I think a woman is much less able to emotionally detach herself from her children than a man...? Therefore wouldn't risk it..., which would mean less opportunity for men in the first place..
doesn't really answer your question, but adds to the why are so many people single..?
doesn't really answer your question, but adds to the why are so many people single..?
Edited by stockhatcher on Friday 20th February 07:32
I'm happily 'with' someone but to get married seems like a pointless exercise.
I am not religious and we work fine as we are, so on the ground that I don't need the magic sky friend to give me his blessing and the old adage 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' I won't be getting married.
I am not religious and we work fine as we are, so on the ground that I don't need the magic sky friend to give me his blessing and the old adage 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' I won't be getting married.
stockhatcher said:
on a slight tangent, I was interested to note during "who do you think you are" with Rick Stein, that back in the 1930's, if a married woman had an affair, she lost all her rights, children home etc etc. Now I wonder if this rule was still in place today, there would be less divorces/affairs? the reason being that I think a woman is much less able to emotionally detach herself from her children than a man...? Therefore wouldn't risk it..., which would mean less opportunity for men in the first place..
doesn't really answer your question, but adds to the why are so many people single..?
Be kinda cool if that applied to the man as well on account of far more men having extral marital affairs than women.doesn't really answer your question, but adds to the why are so many people single..?
Edited by stockhatcher on Friday 20th February 07:32
People were amazed thirteen/fourteen years ago when the Mrs and I got married before moving in with one-another traditional-stylee.
Having said that we'd both lived with other people prior so it wasn't quite as "fairy-tale" as all that...but we both wanted a marriage that reflected the same traditional values as both our sets of parents...and have proceeded to have one.
To be honest I'm impressed that nearly half of people do the same. It really isn't considered a "requirement" by most these days - even by those of us who chose and wanted to marry.
Having said that we'd both lived with other people prior so it wasn't quite as "fairy-tale" as all that...but we both wanted a marriage that reflected the same traditional values as both our sets of parents...and have proceeded to have one.
To be honest I'm impressed that nearly half of people do the same. It really isn't considered a "requirement" by most these days - even by those of us who chose and wanted to marry.
Maxf said:
I'm happily 'with' someone but to get married seems like a pointless exercise.
I am not religious and we work fine as we are, so on the ground that I don't need the magic sky friend to give me his blessing and the old adage 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' I won't be getting married.
I think it's often viewed as a sign of commitment. I am not religious and we work fine as we are, so on the ground that I don't need the magic sky friend to give me his blessing and the old adage 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' I won't be getting married.
People think if they are married they'll make more effort to make a relationship work than the easy come easy go 'living together' option.
Are the wife and children still better protected in the event of a split or death of a partner if they were married first?
I think the cost and expense of not only the wedding (stupid big fairy tale weddings are damn expensive) but also of purchasing a house mean it is sometimes prohibitive and people wait longer until the relevant finance.
We got married last summer (aged 25 and 23), after living together in a rented house for about a year we took the plunge a brought our first house around 18 months ago. We decided that a 35 year commitment to paying a mortgage was a big one and that we'd like to do that as husband and wife!
The rest as they say is history.
We got married last summer (aged 25 and 23), after living together in a rented house for about a year we took the plunge a brought our first house around 18 months ago. We decided that a 35 year commitment to paying a mortgage was a big one and that we'd like to do that as husband and wife!
The rest as they say is history.
Not to mention the legal aspects and advantages of marriage (there are some legal disdvantages too).
At the moment,a member of the Lords is trying to put through a Bill in which couples who have lived together for more than three years will automatically accrue the legal rights normally only available to married couples.
The general concensus is that the Bill will fail.
Don't forget that, in the UK, marriage is not really a "religious" institution but more a legal contract. The religious bit is more a tradition and is an option for those who want it.
At the moment,a member of the Lords is trying to put through a Bill in which couples who have lived together for more than three years will automatically accrue the legal rights normally only available to married couples.
The general concensus is that the Bill will fail.
Don't forget that, in the UK, marriage is not really a "religious" institution but more a legal contract. The religious bit is more a tradition and is an option for those who want it.
Eric Mc said:
Not to mention the legal aspects and advantages of marriage (there are some legal disdvantages too).
At the moment,a member of the Lords is trying to put through a Bill in which couples who have lived together for more than three years will automatically accrue the legal rights normally only available to married couples.
The general concensus is that the Bill will fail.
Interesting. I'm in the family courts process at the moment - the general feeling amongst the legal profession I have discussed this with is that it will pass, and preperations are being made.At the moment,a member of the Lords is trying to put through a Bill in which couples who have lived together for more than three years will automatically accrue the legal rights normally only available to married couples.
The general concensus is that the Bill will fail.
This is a very complex issue, you aren't going to get a simple answer.
I would suggest:
I would suggest:
- Increasing alternatives for men
- Increasing risk for men
- Housing cost
- Increasing taxes and decreasing benefits
- Modern sexual behaviour
julian64 said:
stockhatcher said:
on a slight tangent, I was interested to note during "who do you think you are" with Rick Stein, that back in the 1930's, if a married woman had an affair, she lost all her rights, children home etc etc. Now I wonder if this rule was still in place today, there would be less divorces/affairs? the reason being that I think a woman is much less able to emotionally detach herself from her children than a man...? Therefore wouldn't risk it..., which would mean less opportunity for men in the first place..
doesn't really answer your question, but adds to the why are so many people single..?
Be kinda cool if that applied to the man as well on account of far more men having extral marital affairs than women.doesn't really answer your question, but adds to the why are so many people single..?
Edited by stockhatcher on Friday 20th February 07:32
The cost of getting married is relatively low. The cost of the wedding can be astranomical.
There are 2 points to remember when considering marriage:
Marriage is easy; It's the living together afterwards that's the difficult part.
The probability of the marriage lasting is inversely proportional to the cost of the wedding.
In my late teens/early twenties I had a pact with a work friemd that if eithert of us ever got married the wedding vows would include the words "for financial reasons only". How times change!
I had lived with a girl for a couple of years and we split. Then met another lovely lady who would not co-habit unless married, so we got married. My family were amazed as I had said I would never marry but as far as I was concerned it was a concession that I was willing to make if it made her happy. I don't think it has made one iota of difference to our relationship but then we are relatively settled after 18 years of marriage (as far as I know
)
There are 2 points to remember when considering marriage:
Marriage is easy; It's the living together afterwards that's the difficult part.
The probability of the marriage lasting is inversely proportional to the cost of the wedding.
In my late teens/early twenties I had a pact with a work friemd that if eithert of us ever got married the wedding vows would include the words "for financial reasons only". How times change!
I had lived with a girl for a couple of years and we split. Then met another lovely lady who would not co-habit unless married, so we got married. My family were amazed as I had said I would never marry but as far as I was concerned it was a concession that I was willing to make if it made her happy. I don't think it has made one iota of difference to our relationship but then we are relatively settled after 18 years of marriage (as far as I know
) Edited by Tyre_Tread on Friday 20th February 10:29
We've just got hitched - wednesday - and while it happened to provide the legal necessity for us to have kids (in Dubai) it is also very much the affirmation of our long term commitment to each other.
Anyway, surely now that we're a minority we'll have all the PC lot stand up for us...
Anyway, surely now that we're a minority we'll have all the PC lot stand up for us...
G'kar said:
Eric Mc said:
Not to mention the legal aspects and advantages of marriage (there are some legal disdvantages too).
At the moment,a member of the Lords is trying to put through a Bill in which couples who have lived together for more than three years will automatically accrue the legal rights normally only available to married couples.
The general concensus is that the Bill will fail.
Interesting. I'm in the family courts process at the moment - the general feeling amongst the legal profession I have discussed this with is that it will pass, and preperations are being made.At the moment,a member of the Lords is trying to put through a Bill in which couples who have lived together for more than three years will automatically accrue the legal rights normally only available to married couples.
The general concensus is that the Bill will fail.
The real problem is, without the signed piece of paper, inferring that a relationship existed that was similar to but not quite marriage is difficult to prove.
The best indicator that a "pseudo marriage" existed that this peer can come up with is the "three year rule".
There are real problems on succession rights, Inheritance Tax and joint bank account access issues for couple who have only ever cohabited.
I got married in 2001 (abroad) and am still extremely happily married but it is sad to see we are in the minority but each to their own.
You do have to work at it, but no more than if you were just living together as getting a divorce seems to be quite easy to do from what I have seen/read about.
I know some women like to get married to have their "big day" which is fair enough, but personally I hate being the centre of attention so for me, couldn't think of anything worse than having to walk down an aisle with everyone looking at me. Also, we are not religious so feel it would be hypocritical of us getting married in a church and then never going again.
Another reason for us getting married is for when we had kids, I think its nice to be traditional and have them when married.
You do have to work at it, but no more than if you were just living together as getting a divorce seems to be quite easy to do from what I have seen/read about.
I know some women like to get married to have their "big day" which is fair enough, but personally I hate being the centre of attention so for me, couldn't think of anything worse than having to walk down an aisle with everyone looking at me. Also, we are not religious so feel it would be hypocritical of us getting married in a church and then never going again.
Another reason for us getting married is for when we had kids, I think its nice to be traditional and have them when married.
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