View from a broad

Jenny Colgan
Friday May 26, 2006
The Guardian

What is causing storms of horror and outrage this week among our gentlemanly fraternity? Oh yes: "Wives demand fair deal in divorce." I know, I'm shocked and appalled too. There seems to be some collective male panic that they will have to pay anyone they go out with, or even glance at, a quarter of a million quid for life. "But I don't have a quarter of a million," you can hear them bleating. "All she did was raise my children, iron my shirts and listen to blow-by-blow accounts of my golf game for 17 years." The fact is that if, like Alan Miller, you marry someone, tell them to give up work "because it's only play money", then have an affair (and even after the "landmark" divorce ruling you are still left with a cool £12m) then really, let's face it . . . you've just gotta get over it, you fat-bummed plutocrat. I'm sure there are plenty of women out there who would marry a rich man even if he insisted on a line in the pre-nup allowing him to "shag anyone and anything throughout this marriage". Some might even prefer it. So, next time, find one of those, and avoid having someone like Lewis Marks, the charming QC who represented Mr Miller, say: "My client would have been better off if he had knocked down his wife in his car." Melissa Miller deserved £5m for that remark alone.