OLDER WOMEN DISCOVER DIVORCE CAN BE UNPLEASANT:

The divorce rate among the over-50s is rising. According to the Office of National Statistics, the number of ‘silver divorces’ has risen by three- quarters in the past 20 years, while the divorce rate among the rest of the population has fallen.

As well as fractured relationships and infidelity, the rise in late-life divorce is also fuelled by women fed up with old-before-their-time husbands and a lack of excitement.

Few of these women anticipate that their silver divorce will cost them all the home comforts and financial security they once took for granted.

Dominik Lipnicki, a housing expert for Your Mortgage Decisions, believes this boom in divorce and the financial instability it can cause is a huge problem for older women.

Well, maybe don’t act on impulse, then. Besides, a man who divorces his wife because he’s fed up with her being old before her time and insufficiently exciting is called a pig. So don’t be a sow.

Plus, a warning for would-be “Julia” types: “I tell myself that I’m one of the lucky ones because the council gave me two bedrooms.”