What your argument style really says about your relationship
Couples who say they never argue may have just made a tacit agreement not to face up to their problems. But not discussing them at all can…
Why I opened up my marriage: the truth about (almost) monogamous relationships
‘Monogamish’ is not synonymous with swinging (the practice of swapping sexual partners within a larger group), or polyamory (having two or more romantic relationships with the consent…
Writing erotic fiction saved my 15-year marriage (to a vicar)
Nice but mousy, is how I overheard one of the ladies of the parish describe me. It’s a fair enough description for a vicar’s wife, though there’s…
Why every comfortably married, middle-aged man should watch And Just Like That – and tremble
Gentlemen, your attention please. You may not have been watching the Sex and the City sequel And Just Like That… recently – which is a schoolboy error,…
Divorces plunge during pandemic … but the big bust-up may still lie ahead
The number of divorces dropped by nearly five per cent during the pandemic as families focused on homeschooling and caring for elderly relatives, divorce lawyers suggest. The…
It’s been ten years since I slept with my husband
My diary tells me that it has been a decade, a whole 10 years since my husband moved out – not from our home, but our bedroom….
The tiny irritations that can ruin your marriage
A woman I know, who has been married for 23 years, deeply loves her husband, but rarely a day goes by when she isn’t intensely irritated by…
I’ve been love-bombed several times before, but this time I failed to see the red flags
One sunny morning, early last autumn, I did what I always do after school drop-off and took the puppy to the local dog park for her morning…
My now ex-wife has taken a restraining order out on me
I moved home last month, from a flatshare where I was one of four (and the oldest by 15 years), and into a bedsit which, from its…
The 36 best romantic movies to watch on Valentine’s Day 2022
Best moment: At the climactic New Year’s Eve party, Sally wails: “Harry, you say things that make it impossible for me to hate you, and I hate you,…
Dear Richard: ‘My mother-in-law is coming between my mother and me’
Dear Richard, My mother-in-law moved in with us after her husband died and while it had always been on the cards and there’s plenty of room for…
My husband has found God in a big way – and lost his sense of fun
My husband’s sense of fun appealed to me from the moment I met him, and it made him a great teacher. He’s the head of music at…
I remember the days when long-term relationships were forged with a snog in the back of a taxi on the way home from a date
Sometime around this point in mid-January, the wheels come off as new year’s resolutions we vowed to keep begin to fall by the wayside. For this precise…
Couples Therapy, review: there’s a voyeuristic thrill in watching marriages crumble before our eyes
It never fails to amaze me that people can be persuaded to bare all on television. I mean this in the literal sense – if you have…
My illness has tested our relationship but also strengthened our bond
My wife and I didn’t get married in a church – it was a registry office on the high street; the rain held off – but we…
Florence Nightingale or Nurse Ratched… which one are you married to?
Dr Solomon admits her first thought when she finds out her husband is ill is, “How is this going to affect me?” And Dr Peake echoes her…
How to reset your relationships in 2022
The pandemic has taken a toll on many couples, but not all have been equally affected. The general story, which I have seen in my psychotherapist practice…
My wife hates me, but for now we muddle on in an uneasy stasis
I always liked to say that the first thing that drew me to my wife was her rapier wit. She was arch and funny, and could be…
Resolutions shouldn’t be about self-harm – which is why I’m giving up dating apps
A tangle of fairy lights, the chaotic rush of last-minute presents, piles of unwritten cards, cardboard boxes waiting to be broken down ready for the recycling bin. …
How to reset your relationships this year
The pandemic has taken a toll on many couples, but not all have been equally affected. The general story, which I have seen in my psychotherapist practice…
‘What happened to her was slut-shaming’ – why the ‘dirty’ Duchess of Argyll deserves a fair hearing
Foy finds it ‘incredibly dispiriting’ that the sexist shorthand for Margaret Argyll remains ‘Dirty Duchess’. ‘This moralistic weaponising of women’s sexuality – in either direction – is…
‘I finally found happiness with my third marriage’
After swearing she would never wed again following her divorce from Sir Paul McCartney, Heather Mills has reportedly joined that rarefied clique: the Third Marriage Club. Other…
Try as I might, I have never managed to buy my wife a present that she likes
The sound of ripping wrapping paper on Christmas morning once filled me with joy, accompanied as it inevitably was by the sound of children’s laughter. I’m a…
Churches to hold weddings outside in major relaxation of marriage laws
Church weddings will be allowed outdoors for the first time in more than 250 years under a major liberalisation of marriage law planned by the Government. Ministers…
Christmas Day is enough to make anyone want a divorce – but hold your horses
I’ll cut to the chase: Christmas is a time when couples fantasise about breaking up. Sorry to put a dampener on proceedings, but you have to admit,…