Marriage
An Austenesque Aga saga with hints of postmodernism
Lovely, gentle Isabel, just 40, makes masks. Her husband Dan, erstwhile ‘student of the Classics’ and playwright manqué, is ‘bored…
Meet the Skype Dads: a new sorrow of divorce in the internet age
What happens when a divorce court accepts video calls as a substitute for visiting your children
Dear Mary: How can I keep my retiring husband out of the house?
Q. For ten years, I have made a reasonable freelance income working from home. During this time my husband has…
Dear Mary: How I can I avoid being invited to any more country house weekends?
Q. Someone I was at university with but hadn’t seen much of over the ten years since invited me to…
Paganism is alive and well – but you won’t find it at a Goddess Temple
The rise of modern paganism – and the persistence of the real thing
The rise of ‘living apart together’ – and why I’ve stopped doing it
The rise of ‘living apart together’ – and why I’ve stopped doing it
Dear Mary solves problems for Jim Broadbent, N.M. Gwynne, Jesse Norman and others
Once again Mary has invited some of her favourite figures in the public eye to submit personal queries for her…
Easy divorce has been catastrophic for British children (and I say this as a divorcee)
Would you find it difficult to remain friends with someone if he or she suddenly revealed that they intended to…
Revealed: the marriage gap between Britain's rich and poor
Marriage has emerged as a serious – and perhaps surprising – social divide
Why the Ancient Greeks thought adultery was worse than rape
A footballer serves his sentence for rape, insisting on his innocence. Debate rages whether he should play again. To us,…
Spectator letters: St Augustine and Louise Mensch, war votes and flannel
Faith and flexibility Sir: What a contrast in your two articles on religion last week: one liberal atheist parent (Claire…
Jeremy Vine’s diary: Zipcars, hipster milk and the word that means I’m losing an argument
Last Tuesday I tried to sign up to a new life. My wife and I argued, slightly. ‘I don’t think…
Marriage and foreplay Sharia-style
Needless to say, it’s not uncommon to hear single British women in their thirties and forties saying that all the…
Wedding receptions make me wonder about the point of marriage
Back from holiday in Italy, I look out of my kitchen window in Northamptonshire to find the country view blocked…
Romance isn't a religion. Stop looking for The One and join The Queue
Pity the modern starlet. Be she steaming-hot pop-tart or reality-show show-off, her range of emotional experiences will, thanks mostly to…
The pleasures of being a boring old unmarried couple
The problem with not getting married, I am increasingly realising, is that you cannot get divorced. There is no mechanism…
What’s the point in being married if I can’t feel superior to my single friends?
I’m due to speak at an Intelligence Squared debate on Saturday and I’m worried that I might be on the…
Why it’s time for a Cad of the Year Award
Why it’s time for a Cad of the Year Award
Being the father of the bride has matured me – as I discovered in the nightclub afterwards
So the wedding of my little girl to Andy Bancroft Cooke went off without a hitch, a wonderful ceremony in…
Why Beyoncé is a conservative icon
Meet popular culture’s most powerful advocate for marriage
He's a great friend. He knows everything. Please don't let him phone
Another sunny Sunday morning and the phone rings. I pick up the receiver. It’s Frank. I groan inwardly. Frank is…
The joy of less sex
I used to think nothing would ever be more important. I was wrong
Help! My gay best friend is cheating on me
My gay best friend is cheating on me with another woman. I saw him with her the other day and…
François Hollande - all the president's women
Hollande’s affair demonstrates that the French are becoming more puritanical about monogamy
Forget the sex scandal. Why does Francois Hollande have only one pair of shoes?
Of all the interesting revelations by the French magazine Closer about François Hollande, the most interesting for me is its…
