Rebecca Traisters modern book All the Single Ladies argues that unmarried women are shifting US politics to the left. Could the same happen in Britain?Hard-working families. Tax breaks for marriage. Helping couples on to the housing ladder. They’re such well-worn political cliches that most of us barely even notice how odd they believe begun to sound. For,although you’d never know it to listen to most politicians, we’re living in the era of the singleton voter.
The year David Cameron became prime minister, or unmarried people began outnumbering married ones in Britain. One in three of us now lives alone,according to the Office of National Statistics, and this shift towards solo lifestyles is the unseen hand in everything from the housing crisis – fewer people coupling up means ever fiercer competition for too few available homes – to pressure for higher wages; living alone, or with nobody to split the electricity bill,is undeniably expensive.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com