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Chelsea skipper John Terry - Source: Getty -
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"Everyone loves a good wedding."
Well, that couldn't be more true this week in the UK. From political strategists, programme makers, newspaper editors to the great unwashed - throw in a story with a central theme of marriage and it's a winner!
Even Conservative leader David Cameron is floating the idea of tax breaks for married couples, a topic very dear to British hearts it would seem.
So how has this played out in the past week?
Take poor old British Prime Minster Gordon Brown. (I don't know why, but you can't help feeling sorry for him.) Ever since he entered public life as a politician, trying to extract anything out of him remotely attached to his private life has been nigh on impossible.
But the barricades came down this week thanks to looming elections and poor ratings in the polls. You can thank his political advisor, Alistair Campbell, for that. Yes, the very same man who guided Brown's old mate, then political rival, Tony Blair, through many minefields like war in Iraq, has turned his attention to transforming the dour Scot into a touchy feely man of the people.
So Gordon Brown consents to an interview with one of hismates, disgraced former newspaper editor and now talent show judge, Piers Morgan. Contrived it was, but somehow the lumbering and awkward Brown made this vote catching hour of TV seem totally genuine, largely because he isn't a polished actor like Blair. Brown did seem sincere and it showed. He talked about his love for his wife, the loss of his first born daughter and even described how he proposed to his wife. It was fairytale stuff delivered with all the polish of an old boot. And the viewers lapped it up.
The same way they are lapping up other tales of marriage. These ones, of course, aren't the good news stories (unless you own a tabloid newspaper and then they are unbelievably good news stories). These are the sordid details of footballers' infidelity played out to a more eager audience than those gathered around the box to watch Match Of The Day.
Chelsea and now former England captain John Terry has been on a grovelling mission to Dubai to seek forgiveness from his wife after sleeping with a former teammate's girlfriend and then reportedly paying for her to have an abortion. Every detail is monitored in the tabloids like a minute by minute breakdown of a premiership football game.
Now fellow Chelsea and England player Ashley Cole who is married to Girls Aloud singer Cheryl Tweedy has been outted texting naked pictures of himself to "other" women and, according to some reports, bedding at least one of these women at the team hotel.
Again this football obsessed nation is following every development in this unhealthy bedroom romp like Tony Ryall did with swine flu.
There are questions that need answering: Will any one these stories affect our views on marriage? Probably not. Will it affect the way the UK public will vote in the May elections? Perhaps. Will any of this stop people here watching football? No way!
So maybe what this proves about Britain is that the only thing more important than a good wedding and marriage is football. Combine the two and it's populist gold. Brilliant!
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