Marriage
How could any woman fail to be won over by my new cinema room?
As Christmas approaches, fighting has broken out in the Young household. No, I’m not talking about my three boys, aged…
Letters: Melissa Kite saved my life – twice
Leave we must Sir: It is interesting that as the Brexit process drags, people become more distanced from what was…
Dear Mary: How do I stop people cadging cigarettes off me?
Q. My mother died a few months ago. Her collection of colourful clothes, hats, shoes and an immense amount of…
Marriage is becoming more like it was before Christianity
The Christian church ordained that marriage, a sacrament imparting divine grace, was for life. In 1857, the state enacted its…
Dear Mary: how can I stop my husband from hijacking my punchlines?
Q. A woman I’ve known for years is getting divorced and rings me every day to talk about it. I…
Would your son marry me? Inside Shanghai’s marriage market
Shanghai ‘How old are you, young lady?’ A small, curious crowd starts to surround me. ‘How tall are you? What…
Clucking hell – hen parties are just awful
‘Last fling before the ring.’ ‘Buy me a shot, I’m tying the knot.’ ‘Keep calm and bridesmaid on.’ If you…
Faithless husbands can be the best husbands
Gstaad Who was it that said we always hurt those we love the most? I did just that last…
When kissing in public carried a death sentence
I once threw Tony Parker’s Lighthouse across the fo’c’sle of a ship at sea when I read that his characters…
My wife has gone back to work – and I’ve turned into a SADDO
When I proposed to Caroline back in 2000, she was a trainee solicitor and I was a freelance journalist. In…
Rod Liddle: In defence of marriage
I took part in a debate organised by the Times this week about reform of our divorce laws. Well, I…
Letters: Matthew Parris’s marriage proposal is absurd
Marriage proposal Sir: Matthew Parris’s proposal that marriage be abolished, and civil partnerships installed in its place, is absurd (‘The…
The term ‘marriage’ needs to be untangled
Rebecca Steinfeld (37) and Charles Keidan (41) have a moral objection to marriage. They’ve been together since 2010, have two…
Is it time to move to Austria?
Schloss Wolfsegg I was watching two very old men slowly approaching the open doors of the Pilatus airplane I…
The ordeal of being married (twice) to John Bellany
Misery memoirs are in vogue. There is much misery in this harrowing account of married life with John Bellany (1942–2013)…
I used to think I was smarter than my wife. Not anymore
According to new research published in Advances in Physiology Education, men tend to significantly overestimate their own intelligence whereas women…
For Julian Barnes, the only story is a love story — and it’s inevitably sad
The story, as it emerges, feels both familiar and inevitable. A bored 19-year-old student, on his university holidays in mid-century…
Why marriage is increasingly for the royals – and the rich
Whatever their views about the monarchy, most people will warm to the news of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s engagement.…
Divorce destroys society. Don’t let’s make it easier
I went to Relate once, the counselling service formerly known as the National Marriage Guidance Council. I wasn’t married at…
How can I prevent my husband from burning all my post?
If you don’t yet watch Gogglebox on Channel 4, start doing so now. Far from making you despise our couch-potato…
Mary solves your problems: My husband’s started working from home – and he’s driving me crazy
Q. My husband, who used to be away on business most of the time, now works from home and has…
Amsterdam Notebook
When my husband and I arrived in our adored Amsterdam on a sun-drenched schoolday afternoon — less than an hour…
The day I stopped believing in the friendship myth
Should we be surprised that friendship isn’t always mutual? That is one of the findings of a team of researchers…
Why the leap-year proposal is a nonsense
It’s nonsense that women should be given one day in every four years to propose marriage