To: Electronic Telegraph <et.letters@telegraph.co.uk>
Re: The Telegraph's support of immoral morals
Date: Thu, 05 Oct 2000

Dear Sir,

I was bemused to read in last Friday's Telegraph that the decision by a Federal bankruptcy judge to award $449 million to Anna Nicole Smith (who married an oil billionaire when he was 89 and she a 25-year-old
stripper) "is a heartening legal endorsement of the importance of marriage" (Comment and Opinion, 29 September 2000).

The commentary sounds very moral and supportive of the institution of marriage, but in fact it is the opposite.

To suggest that an "official marriage" which weds a man with a woman young enough to be his great- granddaughter makes for a "real marriage" is quite absurd. It is absurd that such a marriage could be performed in the first place.

This is the kind of attitude that undermines the institution of marriage.

Another absurdity that the commentator also apparently fails to recognise is that someone can inherit more money than 400 hard-working citizens on an average wage can earn in a lifetime!

This is the kind of attitude that undermines any prospect of us creating a fair and sustainable society.