My favorite story from this past weekend came from the New York Times: A piece on how the United Kingdom’s lack of no-fault divorces results in ridiculous inventions of blame on behalf of one or both spouses seeking a split. In her 30-odd years as a divorce lawyer, Vanessa Lloyd Platt has heard it all. The woman who sued for divorce because her husband insisted she dress in a Klingon costume and speak to him in Klingon. The man who declared that his wife had maliciously and repeatedly served him his least favorite dish, tuna casserole. “It’s insane,” Ms. Lloyd Platt said. “These things should not have any part in the procedure.” But they come up all the time in England, which unlike every state in America does not have a no-fault divorce law. Under current English law, divorces are granted only under one of five categories, including adultery and abandonment. About half of the cases fall under the heading of a broad category called unreasonable behavior, in which one party has to accuse the other of acting so unreasonably that living together has become intolerable. In addition to the Klingon man, there was a woman who said her husband had not spoken to her for 15 years, communicating only by Post-it note. And there was the man whose wife “would without justification flirt with any builder or tradesman, inappropriately touching them and declaring that she could not stop herself.” READ MORE: Fault-findings a fine art for divorces in Britain
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My favorite story from this past weekend came from the New York Times: A piece on how the United Kingdom’s lack of no-fault divorces results in ridiculous inventions of blame on behalf of one or both spouses seeking a split.

In her 30-odd years as a divorce lawyer, Vanessa Lloyd Platt has heard it all. The woman who sued for divorce because her husband insisted she dress in a Klingon costume and speak to him in Klingon. The man who declared that his wife had maliciously and repeatedly served him his least favorite dish, tuna casserole.

“It’s insane,” Ms. Lloyd Platt said. “These things should not have any part in the procedure.”

But they come up all the time in England, which unlike every state in America does not have a no-fault divorce law.

Under current English law, divorces are granted only under one of five categories, including adultery and abandonment. About half of the cases fall under the heading of a broad category called unreasonable behavior, in which one party has to accuse the other of acting so unreasonably that living together has become intolerable.

In addition to the Klingon man, there was a woman who said her husband had not spoken to her for 15 years, communicating only by Post-it note. And there was the man whose wife “would without justification flirt with any builder or tradesman, inappropriately touching them and declaring that she could not stop herself.”

READ MORE: Fault-findings a fine art for divorces in Britain

When the lights go down on the Internet…

The following websites have made plans to go dark in protest of the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) on Wednesday, Jan. 18:

  • Wikipedia
  • Reddit
  • BoingBoing
  • WordPress (.org websites)
  • Twitpic (Twitter photos)
  • MoveOn
  • The Cheezburger Network
  • Mozilla

Google, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr have vocally stood in opposition to SOPA and PIPA, but have not announced intentions to take part in Wednesday’s online blackout. [CBS News] (h/t soupsoup)