I'd never let my parents choose my wife

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The pilot show in March showed the presenter, Aneela Rahman, castigating a 39-year-old for dating men she fancied who showed her a good time rather than blokes with money. "You've wasted 22 years of your life on these ... men," hissed Aneela. "Don't you have any property? You're a property developer's daughter without any property."

That Aneela accused someone who'd spent 22 years having a varied and exciting love life of wasting her life says everything about her and arranged marriages. I don't have any property either; but, unlike Aneela, when I'm past it, I'll be enjoying memories that will warm my cockles more than the thought of how much equity I've accumulated.

"Arranged marriage to me is all about class," Aneela proudly stated. I wonder if she'll also apply the Asian "no blacks, infidels and untouchables" rule to her arranged marriages along with the "no deadbeats" one. I'll certainly tune in to find out.

Money is a prime consideration for a lot of Asian parents arranging their children's marriages, because their children are their pension plans. They don't care if their kids never have sex again so long as they can retire early and put their feet up watching Bollywood cable channels, knowing their offspring are all working their butts off as one half of a high-earning power couple.

Despite the guff that gets spoken about arranged marriages, the fact remains that only a total dork would let their parents rope them into one. Having had their folks interfere in the selection process, do they also let them into the bedroom, shouting tips from the sidelines? And lately I've noticed a spate of divorces among Asians of my generation as their arranged marriages fall to pieces. The BBC is mainstreaming the institution just as it's proving unworkable among those born in Britain.

Though my mum once asked me to marry a cousin to help her to emigrate, my parents have otherwise shown no interest in arranging a marriage for me. They didn't want to be blamed if it went wrong. Relatives accused them of being irresponsible and Westernised; but as it becomes clear that arranged marriages are prone to the same difficulties as any marriage in Britain, it seems my folks were right to mind their own business.