Why watching Newsnight could damage your marriage...

Staying up to watch TV after your partner has gone to bed could have an damaging effect on your marriage, experts say

If you’ve ever stayed up after your partner has gone to bed to catch Newsnight, you could be seriously damaging your marriage, experts say.

According to The Middle Class Handbook, an online guide to the changing habits of the middle class, choosing to spend the evening with Paxman rather than your other half is one of eight signs that you need to work on your relationship.

‘If you are genuinely interested in Newsnight, that’s fine, but if you just don’t want to go to bed because you don’t want to be with your partner, it’s not,’ says Christine Northam, a counsellor at Relate.

Other tell tale signs that your marriage is on the rocks include reading in bed with the light on, while your partner is trying to sleep, refusing to go on dates because of financial worries, avoiding arguments because they take too much effort, and feeling frustrated when your partner complains about work rather than sympathetic.

‘For any couple, the best way forward is always to be open and honest with one another,' says Ms Northam. 'That is the way to avoid arguments. You don’t store up resentment, you have dealt with it quickly. In a good enough relationship you will both respect each other and want to know what they are feeling.’

So, next time you’re tempted to catch the end of BBC2’s late-night current affairs programme, think twice about how your partner is feeling.

‘It seems a sad state of affairs when Newsnight has become an indulgence,’ says Richard Benson, a writer for The Middle Class Handbook.

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