Marriage is not an art project

The students' wedding was condemned by Stephen Green, national director of Christian Voice, an organisation that represents Christians.

He said: 'They are denigrating the institution of marriage itself.

'Marriage is not an art project, it is the life-long union of man and woman and part of that is the sexual act which is there for companionship and the raising of children.

But then:

Stephen Green wrote a list of his wife’s ­failings then described the weapon he would make to beat her with.

‘He told me he’d make a piece of wood into a sort of witch’s broom and hit me with it, which he did,’ she recalls, her voice tentative and quiet. ‘He hit me until I bled. I was terrified. I can still remember the pain.

‘Stephen listed my misdemeanours: I was disrespectful and disobedient; I wasn’t loving or submissive enough and I was undermining him. He also said I wasn’t giving him his ­conjugal rights.

‘He even framed our marriage vows — he always put particular emphasis on my promise to obey him — and hung them over our bed. He believed there was no such thing as marital rape and for years I’d been reluctant to have sex with him, but he said it was my duty and was angry if I refused him.

There is really not much to say about this story from the Old Country. The man is a brute in public life and it is hardly surprising to discover that he was a brute at home. We can only hope that his reputation is irreparably damaged and that the odious oganisation he heads will recede into the darkness whence it came. It might also be worth noting that Christian Voice spread its tentacles across the land at a time when Tony Blair's gruesome regime was promoting partnership between government and religious organisations.

Meanwhile in New Zealand:

The judge was given a report from the Anglican church in which the bishop apologised to the couple involved and said the actions of Gray and Hall had breached the standards of the church, brought it into disrepute, and created a feeling of distrust in the church.

She noted that a conviction could stop Gray getting more work when he was reliant on Government and local government contacts.

A conviction also had serious consequences in the Maori community for someone like Gray who was appointed upoko - the spiritual and cultural repository of knowledge, handpicked from birth.

She granted the discharge without conviction.

That's right folks, a crook gets away with it, ruining what turned out to be a tragically short marriage, because a conviction would stop him getting Government contracts and because it would have serious consquences in his community.



In case you are still wondering what this marriage business is all about, here is Mr Cholmondley-Warner: