When is divorce necessary? When differences become irreconcilable of course. When else? Factors leading to divorce could be tiny things, like leaving toenail clippings in the bath, dirty socks in the bedroom or even snoring. Hardly earth shattering stuff, but to a once loving couple, these little trivialities can quickly escalate into a daily nightmare. Eventually, one or other of the partners is going to blow a fuse. After all, people are only human.

There are major factors leading to divorce as well, such as repeated drunkenness, violent outbursts, and chronic addiction to gambling. In these enlightened days where the credit crunch stings and purchase of both fuel and food require a second mortgage, the financial difficulty may also lead down the slippery garden path towards divorce. It is after all, a rich man’s world. Having said that, it could me a rich woman’s too.

Then of course, that age-old problem called infidelity is probably one of the biggest factors to couples parting the ways. Naturally, when one or both parties are not really at peace with each other, it’s only to be expected that they should seek solace in the company of another. After all, people are only human. "To err is to be human," said Dr Johnson. He’s dead right! So what’s all the fuss about? If two people end up hating each other’s guts, come to blows, and terrify the kids out of their living wits in the process, perhaps divorce is for the best.

Ah yes, kids, that’s where the trouble usually starts. Let’s face it when little baby Harry howls his socks off at 2.30am and the entire neighbourhood is alerted to this fact, tension runs high. After all, a bread-winning dad needs his sleep otherwise he no longer functions properly at work. So that’s another irritating little factor to shovel onto the heap of marital dissent. Good, hardly enough to file for a decree absolute for though is it? Yes, it is, especially when dad gets plastered in the Rose and Crown before returning home from work each and every night.

Still, apart from saving distraught unhappy couples their sanity, divorce brings prosperity to the many solicitors and legal advisors, eager to dispense divorce litigation. Without divorce, scores of well-meaning, industrious and useful barristers, judges and court officials would end up becoming unemployed. Yes, divorce is definitely a necessary evil, for the good of all humanity.