Friday is the chance to take a stance and vote ’yes’

For this observer there’s a sense of the 1968 US Presidential election about the forthcoming marriage referendum.

Younger readers may not recall this contest, between Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey, which was viewed almost as a referendum on whose viewpoint took precedence in the country, the liberal youth perspective or the outlook of older conservatives.

Nixon won handily enough, but a story soon circulated which told you a good deal about politics generally, not just the American version.