Opponents of marriage tax breaks need to ‘check their privilege’

What with the flap about Ed Miliband’s dad, the legion of the outraged have forgotten what they were planning to get angry about this week – the marriage tax break, which is social engineering and a blatant Tory attempt to punish single mothers in favour of the patriarchy.

As a paid-up member of the patriarchy it always sounds more fun coming from people complaining about it than it actually is. Marriage, for men, is a form of domestication and many would rather spend their 30s and 40s playing computer games, if possible with a live-in girlfriend to whom they have made no commitments. Many end up getting married partly because their peers do, and the social pressure to conform.

Why do we do it? Marriage is a partnership in which people make huge sacrifices in return for the benefits of pooled resources and risks. It is, as some feminists say, an unnatural relationship, but unnatural in the same way that our modern, agricultural societies are; we do it because if we remain as free, healthier hunter-gatherers our rivals (and their children) will have huge advantages over us.