THE BEDROCK

It seems that the Conservative party believes that marriage is the bedrock of society. So much so, that it is pledging a tax break for married couples. Valued at £3.85 per week, it is hard to determine whether it intends it as a reward, an inducement or a sticking plaster.

With a current divorce rate in excess of 40%, then if the Conservatives are correct about the bedrock, society must be crumbling.

£3.85 might go some way to providing wallpaper to paste over the cracks, so long as they are not so big that they need filler, of course. Alternatively it might just stretch to a ball of twine or a pot of adhesive, assuming that the society we desire really is one held together by the monetary equivalent of string and glue.