Blokes need to pay lip service to the fairer sex

Reporter: Jim WIlliams
Date published: 18 October 2013


THE FRIDAY THING: MARRIAGE was always seen as the bedrock of family life (for better or for worse, you decide) but those getting married now are in a minority.

Only 47 per cent of couples take the plunge, compared with 51 per cent a decade ago. Almost 18 million people — more than a third of the population - class themselves as single.

How did we come to this? I can offer you these words of wisdom from Oxford University scientists. Apparently we - or rather women - are not doing enough kissing.

The scientists, who probably had a lot of fun working on the research, say women need to kiss lots of men so they can separate the frogs from the prince charmings.

And kissing, according to the boffins, keeps couples together, reinforces affection and is linked to the quality of the relationship.

But some of the boffins are baffled by all this kissing, putting forward three theories why all the snogging occurs.

One is that it increases arousal and initiates sex (here we go; that had to come up sooner or later...). Women rate kissing as more important in relationships than men do.

The boffins also say their findings suggest that when we kiss, information - chemical signals - is passed on subconsciously, telling women if they are genetically compatible.

So clearly, by the time you have been through all that measured kissing the mood will have passed and a single bed awaits.

Even newly-weds apparently no longer consummate their marriage on the wedding night, partly because the groom is too drunk and the bride has fallen asleep.

As one wedding expert puts it: “The emphasis of wedding night sex for married couples is no longer a huge factor.”

Who said romance was dead?


FINAL WORD: For many households the most worrying story of the week was no doubt the one of our most venomous spiders, the noble false widow spider.
Thanks to the hot summer weather, the spider has shown a major surge in population and is spreading up from the south.

Seven victims have been reported in Devon; one even needed emergency surgery. The spiders have also been seen in Wales and Norfolk and could be heading to a sitting room, dining room or kitchen near you right now.

Just thought I’d mention it. Sleep well...