In response to Harry Benson: The lessons of Love Island, Groan wrote:

I think I’ve commented before on the Royal Wedding and the Arch Bish of Canterbury actually going through the ‘contract’ of marriage right at the beginning of the service. In glancing at Coronation Street I caught one of the characters opining that their vows had included that it was a relationship to be worked at and one where they had to help their partner ‘through sickness’. Sadly the entertaining Michael Curry didn’t really define ‘love’ much, preferring to play to the crowd.

Lust Island? Infatuation Island? Probably just an excuse to fill the screen with almost naked beautiful people.

It is remarkable how rarely the nature of the ‘vows’ and the idea of love as something more encompassing than being infatuated in the good times gets an outing. Even from those who’ve sustained long marriages. It really is the ‘love that dares not speak its name’ yet a relationship needs it to survive the ups and downs of a life. Apart from the very young, probably most come to realise this, yet it is somehow ignored in favour of supposing simply repeating the word ‘love’ frequently (à la Michael Curry) makes infatuation enough.