Katie Grant: Marriage to the mother in law is really no joke

You longed for the lugubrious Dawson in the week when the Scottish executive announced that mothers-in-law are no longer off limits for sons-in-law with a roving eye – or daughters-in-law for fathers-in-law looking for a younger model.

It seems, on the face of it, a hilarious gimmick. But even if there may be nothing technically wrong in these liaisons, there is something spooky about a person who wants to marry a parent-in-law or a child-in-law. It must, at the very least, be a conversation stopper.

But there are problems here too. The rules about relationships acceptable for marriage were not made as a joke. The ban on marriage with daughters-in-law or sons-in-law was made because, when they join the family, daughters-in-law and sons-in-law are supposed…