Oz Dating

Every now and then we hear about an unscrupulous fraudster targeting women on an online dating site, charming them into handing over large sums of money. The latest allegations of this kind involve a Canadian bloke called Angelo Morena and a scam involving the importation of wine grapes.

Not surprisingly, the scandal over NSW politician John Della Bosca's extra-marital affair has sparked a debate over whether it should have been reported at all. No law was broken after all, and many people would argue it had little impact on how he carried out his duties as a minister.

My own feeling is that the media should lay off these things. But that will never happen, of course. Even if the vast majority of media outlets decide not to expose politicians' sexual shenanigans, there'll always be at least one that will. Once the secret's out, it's news. They all have to report it then! Only politicians in rock solid marriages within which there has been no infidelity on either side have nothing to fear from the media.

Here's another illustration of the vastness of the online dating industry, and how a free to use model can be very profitable: The Australian dating site Oasis Active has built its membership base to one million active users worldwide. Channel Ten, one of the biggest media players in Australia, has bought a 40% stake in the company.

Whenever there is a story about marriage in the media, the news is almost always bad. People are forever marrying less, divorcing more, feeling trapped and frustrated, getting no sex. The list of negatives goes on and on.

But here's a story that bucks that trend: Aussies are getting hitched more frequently again, with marriage rates currently the highest they've been in 20 years.

Political sex scandals seem to be as certain (and as old) as politics itself. The latest involves a NSW Labor politician called John Della Bosca. He has quit as a result.

There must be a lot more blokes like him in politics who are very nervous about being found out about their own sexual shenanigans. If every male politician who had an affair were to quit, then there'd be anarchy!