Perhaps they feel they are doing their bit to shore up the crumbling institution of marriage?

If so, they might want to think again. It will do the opposite. The only reason I and most of my friends ever even entertained the idea of marriage was because divorce was possible if we needed or wanted one. That’s not to say any of us went into married life without intending it to last but we did, in a world full of uncertainties and unknowables, rely on the knowledge of that safety net.

Most of us have experienced, via our parents, friends or family, unhappy and sometimes violent marriages and know that however careful you are with your choice of partner, life has a way of jamming spanners in the works, throwing curveballs and sometimes simply drowning you in more sh*t than you can survive as a couple. Marriage is a gamble and if losing the bet means a lifetime of inescapable misery, perhaps we should be wary of even picking up the cards.

If Tini loses her gamble and her appeal is turned down she will have to spend five years living separately from, but remaining married to, a man she doesn’t love – with all the financial and emotional consequences that creates – before she can finally be granted a divorce without her husband’s consent. So much for happy ever after.

“Without divorce, marriage is doomed”: Lucy Mangan on why the world needs divorce