This point is not meant to exclude the single by any means. But assuming, as experience seems to teach, that one of the bases of a happy life is frequently a satisfactory & happy marriage or long-term partnership, then I must point out to Ake, yet again, that my dear friends, past & present, Mandy & Nicola, Ben & Dick, David & Brian, John-Stuart & Ricky, Michael & David, et al, all in long-term relationships &, where surviving, civil-partnered since soon after the 2004 Act, appear to be as stable and contented as any of the heterosexual couples of my acquaintance. I just can't make out any rational basis for these peculiar views of his.

~M~