内容摘要：has introduced a private members' bill to outlaw the practice, adding it to the list of illegal marriages (alongside parents, child, siblings, and grandparents). But the Labour government says there are "no plans" to impose a ban. At present, the UK is still following the policy of "genetic counselling", in which first cousin-couples are educated about the risks of having children, and encouraged to get extra screening in pregnancy.

has introduced a private members' bill to outlaw the practice, adding it to the list of illegal marriages (alongside parents, child, siblings, and grandparents). But the Labour government says there are "no plans" to impose a ban. At present, the UK is still following the policy of "genetic counselling", in which first cousin-couples are educated about the risks of having children, and encouraged to get extra screening in pregnancy.

"Incredibly, I was introduced to the son of the farmer who had helped my dad and was then presented with pieces of his parachute harness which they had kept all these years, having found my dad's parachute after his capture," he said."Apparently, the parachute itself was used to make a wedding dress, a common practice during the German occupation."

Roger Churchill said his father left Stalag Luft III with a sled, and that when the snow melted, he managed to fit it with axles and wheels with the help of other prisoners."They were ingenious," he said."They had to be very creative in what they did. It was an incredible ability to achieve things with very little to hand.

"It was a phenomenal act of bravery in many respects, and fortitude."Dick Churchill died in 2019, aged 99, as the

Mr Green believes the effects of the war caught up with his father Alan, who died suddenly on his 56th birthday in 1976, when Mr Green was just 12.

In 2024, both sons met at the 80th anniversary, and discovered a mutual love of cycling.Mallika, her older sister, agrees. "It's also to do with social media and being exposed to different people," she says. "You have new connections... contact with people outside our parents' eyes."

Even Ayesha, the oldest sister who is in a cousin marriage, said she doesn't imagine either of her two children will marry their cousins.At the time she married her cousin, she says, "I didn't know any different. My parents were strong in their culture. As the generations move on, the culture is disappearing a bit."

She was aware of the genetic risks when she had her two children. Neither of them have a genetic illness."We did take that on board," she says, on the topic of genetic health. "But I always feel like if it's going to happen, it's going to happen. If the child is going to be born with a disability then it will happen if you are married to a cousin or not."