THE contented happiness on the faces of Harwood couple Jim and Alice Ryder, who yesterday celebrated 70 years of marriage, was wonderful to see. Naturally, they are looking forward to spending the rest of their lives together.

A couple in Peterborough who have been married 60 years expected to do the same. But now the cold-blooded hand of bureaucracy has decreed otherwise.

The callous Cambridgeshire County Council has agreed to pay for Bill Hill, aged 85, to stay at a private nursing home, but insist that his wife May, also 85, must move out because she does not need intensive nursing care.

This monstrous decision, which is putting cash before compassion, might break the couple's hearts. A county council spokesman's explanation for parting the devoted couple was brutal. Mrs Hill had not met the criteria necessary for the department to agree to meet the cost of nursing home care when her health was assessed in March.

So Mrs Hill is not ill enough to stay with her husband. Has the authority not considered that if the couple are forced to live separately, one or both of them could pine to death?

If this insidious ruling reflects the county council putting into practice national policy, elderly couples across Britain might face the prospect of living their lives out separately.

Family togetherness is not just for the young.

We commend to all authorities the words of the marriage service: Whom God hath joined together let no man put asunder.

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