I'm not doing anything to prove anything to anyone, it's my and rainbows business only, we'll say no more at this stage, so especially since the furour last time. The family difficulties we have are not your business really.
Anna Wilkinson has been married for seven years, has two young children, and – although exhausted – is delighted with her lot. “I was 33, had just broken up with my boyfriend and was beginning to think I’d never have a family life. I’d always been attracted to mavericks, handsome men, who – after a year or so – made it clear they had no intention of settling down.
“Although I felt a bit of a loser, I joined an online dating agency. I filled forms about my interests, my opinions and my personal goals – which was having a family – something I’d been too frightened to mention to my exes in the early days for fear of scaring them off.
“But the men I was introduced to were told what I wanted and shared those dreams. All the game-playing was skipped. From the off we were on the same page and then it was only a matter of finding someone I also found physically attractive and that was Mark, the third man I met.”
Wilkinson is far from alone. One in five relationships in the UK starts online, according to recent surveys, and almost half of all British singles have searched for love on the internet. Just today, nine million Britons will log on looking for love.
The result is that, rather than being someone that defies all calculation, love is now big business worth an annual $4 billion internationally and growing at 70 per cent a year – with high-tech venture capitalists, psychologists and software engineers reaping vast rewards.
Academics, meanwhile, are fascinated by the data being gathered — and largely kept secret — by the dating industry. “We’d love to get hold of more of it, but they’re not keen to share though we’re in discussion with a few of them,” says Robin Dunbar, professor of evolutionary psychology at Oxford University and author of The Science of Love and Betrayal.
“They have a huge database and they also can follow couples’ stories through, which hasn’t been possible so far.” For most of history, using a third party to help you find love was the norm. But in the 20th century this all changed, with young people deciding they wanted to be in charge of their own domestic destinies.
Matchmakers were viewed as hook-nosed crones from Fiddler on the Roof or pushy Mrs Bennet at the Pemberley ball. From Romeo and Juliet, to dashing Mr Rochester choosing plain Jane Eyre, we celebrated stories of Cupid’s dart striking randomly.
Thursday 20 July 2017 14.00 BST Last modified on Thursday 20 July 2017 22.00 BST British people living in the European Union could lose the right to live in another EU member state after Brexit, it emerged at the end of talks in Brussels.
British officials raised the issue with their European counterparts during three-and-a-half days of intense technical talks. The EU made clear it would not move without a reciprocal offer for European nationals living in Britain that would allow them to move to another EU country and return to the UK.
UK may fail to get trade deal with EU unless it agrees not to lower standards, says Barnier - Politics live Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including David Davis’s press conference with Michel Barnier at the end of this week’s Brexit talks Read more The discussions underscore the uncertainty facing nearly 5 million people caught on the wrong side of the Brexit divide, although both the UK and the EU have made citizens’ rights a top priority in Brexit negotiations.
Around 1.2 million British nationals living in the EU would be affected, meaning, for example, a British national currently living in Germany would be unable to move to France, Austria or any other EU member state after Brexit. The outcome could be seen as counter to the EU’s stated aim of allowing citizens to live their lives “as if Brexit never happened”.
Senior EU officials said they were ready to look at the issue, but the UK had to make a reciprocal offer to protect the 3.5 million EU nationals living in the UK, to allow, for example, a German resident in Manchester to return to their home country for a few years and then resume life in the UK.
A UK source close to the negotiations said there was agreement on 50% of the issues on citizens’ rights.
“But we still have doubts about the EU’s plans and their commitment to upholding citizens’ rights,” the source added. “The UK has put a serious offer on the table, but there are significant gaps in the EU’s offer.”
The British government has proposed “settled status” for EU nationals, but this would be lost if a person left the UK for more than two years, unless they could prove they had strong ties.
The EU is seeking an open-ended guarantee that would allow European citizens to resettle in Britain after an indefinite period living in another country.
“We would start from the assumption that in order to maintain the right of EU citizens to move around the EU27, this would require the UK to reciprocate by allowing EU citizens to continue to moving around freely,” a senior EU official said. “This is is a subject of negotiations.”
The issue emerged during detailed talks on protecting citizens’ rights, a politically sensitive issue that touches employment, healthcare to pension rights and education.
There are many expats who already live in many European countries.
I myelf have lived in several, I pefer the UK if only our weather was better, i think it's only fair we expel all non English people , if they want to bar us.
But therer is a lot of Angst at losing their meal ticket when we shed Europe.
Roll on Brexit my parents fought to keep the Fascists out. Foxtrot oscar Europe .......From a true blue
aries1234 Forum Posts (5,672)
Is love possible on the Internet
I'm not doing anything to prove anything to anyone, it's my and rainbows business only, we'll say no more at this stage, so especially since the furour last time. The family difficulties we have are not your business really.