Hannan's Call to Order

At a time of year when most of us are surrounded by our families it's particularly appropriate to spare a thought for those less fortunate than ourselves.

I'm thinking in particular of a man called Adrian Flook, condemned to a lonely Christmas because of a condition that causes him to be shunned by people who might otherwise be sharing his mince pies.

Adrian Flook MP: In search of a wife

Mr Flook would like to be married, but girls run a mile when he raises the subject.

And this is despite the fact that he is young-ish, 38 in fact, and, apart from a rather odd haircut, perfectly presentable.

Indeed, it's been said that he looks rather like Tom Cruise, although a view that provoked a colleague to observe that the only resemblance between the two men was that they were both quite short.

But eligible young women don't reject Mr Flook's advances because of his height, or lack of it.

No, what puts them off is his job.

The big turn-off is this: Adrian Flook is a Member of Parliament.

Well, you might say, that explains a great deal.

In fact it's quite probable the only reason most MPs have wives at all is that they get married before they go to Westminster.

Tom Cruise and Penelope Cruz: Comparison

Innocent women who walk up the aisle under the impression that they are marrying train drivers or accountants or estate agents discover too late that their husbands have been seeing a selection committee on the side.

His own explanation is not that women laugh at the size of his majority, even if it is only 235, but that they are under the impression that Members of Parliament are notoriously dishonest in their personal relationships.

He calls it the "garden gate syndrome", the arrangement under which an adulterous MP poses for a happy family photograph shortly before deserting his wife and children for good.

This sort of thing may have happened in some unfortunate cases, but young women shouldn't think that all MPs are like that.

After all, some of them are drunks and others are crooks but at the same time models of marital fidelity.

But you can't really blame rational young women for their reluctance to get hooked up with politicians.

Welsh Assembly: 'Family-friendly'

After all, it's a life in which your husband, who doesn't get paid very much and who has virtually no job security, is away most of the week, frequently at a loose end, exposed to all the fleshly temptations of a big city.

And even on weekends, when he might be devoting some quality time to you and the children, he's constantly pursued by jumped-up officials from the local party or constituents demanding he does something about their drains.

This is a way of life so absurd that even the tradition-soaked House of Commons has recognised that it needs to change.

No doubt encouraged by the example of the Welsh Assembly's "family-friendly" hours big changes are being made.

Important events will take place earlier in the day, holidays will be better organised, there'll be a shorter working week.

In short, being an MP will be more like having a job in the real world.

All of which is likely to make the prospect of marriage for Mr Flook and similarly-placed MPs even more remote.

After all, marrying a politician is difficult enough to contemplate, but the prospect of him being at home all the time would surely make any proposal totally resistible.

Hear Patrick Hannan's weekly political programme, Called to Order, every Friday at 1800 or Saturday at 0700 on BBC Radio Wales, 93-96 and 104FM, 882 and 657AM, and DSat channel 867.

You can also listen to BBC Radio Wales live online at www.bbc.co.uk/radiowales

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