[1]
Oh, dear. It appears that not only are fewer English people getting married, fewer of the married ones actually like it. Also, in the UK, one in three marriages end in divorce. In a recent study, married people were asked if they would jump ship on their marriage if economic and emotional difficulties were not a factor. The study showed that 59% of women would bail out and 51% of men feel their union is loveless. And 13% and 10% of women and men, respectively, think they should have married someone else.
The survey of 2,000 people was conducted by a solicitor service called Seddons (by the way, a solicitor is basically a lawyer). Half of those interviewed felt that couples therapy was worth a shot. And after being interviewed, it appears the solicitors tried to educate the survey-takers on the benefits of mediation versus divorce.
Our guess is that the people doing the survey approached the most miserable-looking married people that they could find, asked them a handful of questions, and tried to sell them on the idea that mediation would be a good, quick way out of a bad marriage. Well, if John Beckwith and Jeremy Grey are involved, count us in. They’ll remind you of the good time you had at the wedding and how much you used to mean to each other. They won’t make you “shut your mouth when you’re talking to me.”
It’s too bad that these unhappy Brits didn’t live in Miami. Evidently, you could score a quickie divorce (on the downlow, of course) there for like $600 (see that Dish [2]). Also, while you’re at it, check out the Dish [3] on more than half of British babies being born out-of-wedlock.