Letter: Singular view of cohabitation

Sir: In his condemnation of living in sin, the Archbishop of Canterbury demonstrated the firmer line on moral dilemmas that the Church of England is expected to take. This firmness makes it easier for us to discuss guidelines by which to live. However, I am saddened to find that there is never any mention of the genuine problems to which this outright condemnation can lead.

Some of us in our sixties wholive together for mutual support and comfort have reluctantly chosen to do so because of the inequitable state of English pension law regarding widows, and particularly divorced widows. I realise no divorce is an ideal, but when a marriage has broken down irretrievably, and there are no young children involved, it is painful that because of widespread ignorance of these legal inadequacies, we should be condemned as perpetual sinners.

Yours sincerely,

Barbara Bingley

Nayland, Suffolk