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HAVE YOUR SAY

DEBATE: DOES MARRIAGE HAVE A PLACE IN TODAY'S SOCIETY?

Thursday February 11 2010

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(27)

FEWER people are getting married than at any time in more than 100 years, shocking figures revealed today.

A total of 232,990 couples tied the knot in 2008, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed.

That is down from 235,370 in 2007 and the lowest total since 1895.

The marriage rate, which is calculated by the number of marriages per head of population, fell to its lowest level since records began in 1862, the ONS said.

In 2008 there were 21.8 men marrying per 1,000 unmarried adult men, down from 22.4 in 2007, and 19.6 women marrying per 1,000 unmarried women over 16, down from 20.2 in 2007.

The figures, which cover England and Wales, are likely to spark further debate about the decline of marriage.

SO DO YOU THINK MARRIAGE HAS A PLACE IN TODAY'S SOCIETY?

IS LIVING TOGETHER JUST AS GOOD AS BEING MARRIED?

SHOULD TAX BREAKS BE OFFERED TO MARRIED COUPLES?

JOIN THE DEBATE: HAVE YOUR SAY

Amazon.co.uk Widgets

BLOW THE "SANCTITY OF MARRIAGE" NONSENSE!

21.02.10, 12:03pm

There are good sound financial reasons why couples who intend to spend their lives together should get married. The law does not accept the phrase: "common law." If a couple do not have that magic bit of paper then the survivor is left with nothing. No pension rights, having to pay inheritance tax, could end up with them losing a property and other tax and stability issues.

Couples cannot afford to be unmarried. Once they tie the knot, they are legally bulletproof!

• Posted by: Codeblue • Report Comment

ANOTHER PART OF BRITAIN BROKEN BY LABOUR

13.02.10, 11:51pm

Marriage - like everything else that is decent - has been undermined by succesive labour governments.

The current wretched giovernment actually encourages women to have children out of wedlock because it is financially rewarding to do so. Just howc stupid is that.

Like everything else they meddle in, the socialists and their politically correct lapdogs have interfered - and made a mess of it.

There should be no benefits for unmarried mothers after the first child. Once is an "accident" but more than once is deliberate.

If they cant afford to keep the child then it shoud be taken from them and adopted - there are queues of people waiting to adopt.

We should encourage marriage and responsibility - not discourage it.

• Posted by: One_of_the_seven_dwarves • Report Comment

DOES MARRIAGE HAVE A PLACE IN TODAY'S SOCIETY?

13.02.10, 6:53pm

"Whilst the number of people getting married may have fallen the number of people getting divorced has also fallen dramatically so marriage is still an important thing for many people" -jeremydillon.

I agree, marriage is still considered important for some people.

• Posted by: hip_hopper • Report Comment

DOES MARRIAGE HAVE A PLACE IN TODAY'S SOCIETY?

13.02.10, 12:09am

Whilst the number of people getting married may have fallen the number of people getting divorced has also fallen dramatically so marriage is still an important thing for many people.

Getting married is extremely expensive so it is hardly surprising that in times of recession that people think very carefully about spending money on a wedding especially if their jobs are under threat.

http://tinyurl.com/Rude-Valentine-Poems

• Posted by: jeremydillon • Report Comment

MARRIAGE AND SOCIETY

12.02.10, 6:33pm

Maybe some proposals of marriage will happen this St Valentines day...so to all those who do propose and accept...Good Luck !

• Posted by: hip_hopper • Report Comment

DEMOCRASY - LABOUR STYLE

12.02.10, 9:12am

"Gordon Brown has admitted for the first time that he struck a deal with Tony Blair over the Labour leadership - but insisted it did not take place at the Granita restaurant.

The Prime Minister said Mr Blair had agreed to support his succession to the leadership when he eventually stood down, on the basis that he was given a clear run in 1994."
DE

PROOF THAT BROWN IS AN UNELECTED AND ILLEGITIMATE PRIME MINISTER WITH NO RIGHT TO BE THERE.

MARRIAGE? I JUST PITY THE WOMAN MARRIED TO MCDOOM, THE MOST BORING TEDIOUS AND USELESS APOLOGY FOR A MAN WHO EVER WALKED THE EARTH.

• Posted by: One_of_the_seven_dwarves • Report Comment