I'm listening to the BBC's radio programme "Outlook". This is odd, because I realize I see the BBC on the telly, read their web site, and hear them on the radio. And I'm an American. Boy. Does this give you some idea of their influence?

Anyway, they have three segments on marriage.

The first is an interview with a Scotsman in Seattle, Washington, who studied a large number of marrying couples back in '91. He taped them while they argued about some topic, and counted the number of positive and negative things said in order to predict which marriages would be a success. The ten year records are in, and he finds that those who use positive terms five times more often than negative ones have a 90% chance of still being together, after looking at the long-term results now. (A word to the wise.)

Obviously, this was the news that triggered the segment. So what did the BBC choose as accompanying material?

Next, we go to Turkey, where a woman will predict the success of a couple by reading their future in remnant coffee grinds. The couple sounds in love. She predicts a baby soon. At the end, the couple is saying this is very bad and is talking about divorce. The medium is asked how her approach differs from the previous one. She says it's "more romantic". Sure, ask that couple how they feel now.

Last, our intrepid commentator decides we should hear some advice from a "sex therapist" (marriage counsellor, really) who has been married four times. The interviewer assiduously avoids asking the only question I think is relevant: "You've been divorced three times -- why should anyone listen to you?"

If I had to do three stories on marriage, based on some guy who'd found a formula predicing success, I'd certainly choose different accompanying material. Something actually helpful to readers.

Before this segment, we heard a puff piece talking about how lovely the Hindu pilgrimage to the Ganghis river is, explaining how beneficent the Ghangis-mother-god is to her adherants. (Nowhere are the pollution levels mentioned.) Now they're doing a segment about how they do rock concerts in Singapore to please the spirits of the dead.

Are we noticing a theme here?