Single power

For those not in a relationship, the ending of Sex And The City a couple of months ago felt like a betrayal. After years of touting the single cause, the girls end up with life partners and a baby in tow. Did they sell out?

For those defenders of singledom who think they did, another American phenomenon has taken off. It's spawned a book and it's called Quirkyalone: A Manifesto For Uncompromising Romantics.

The term Quirkyalone dates back a few years to when attractive, solvent-but-kissless Sasha Cogen coined the moniker. It started as a grassroots movement and grew into a website that claims more than 1,000 hits a day.

The manifesto? To 'resist the tyranny of coupledom,' because being alone is preferable to counting the days in a 'stifling or unsatisfying romantic relationship.' Quirkyalones, says Cogen, are: ' Independent-thinking people who would prefer to be open to finding that magical click.'

For those who go into a cold sweat when they hear the words 'speed dating', the end of the exhausting quest for a partner may seem a huge relief. There are 11million single people in Britain, a figure expected to rise to 16million by 2010. Many will be glad, in the face of yet another wedding invitation, that they are no longer defined as the social leper. 'I think the era of the pitied single is out,' Cogen says.

Mostly urban, usually in creative jobs and happy to get on with their lives, Quirkyalones are opponents to the frighteningly pragmatic approach of Rachel Greenaid. In her book, The Program, she advises women to market themselves to secure a husband.

That's not the way Cogen's women would behave. But a man can also be a Quirkyalone.

Trend-watcher Mark Tomblin, of UK advertising agency Publicis, thinks the movement has potential. 'I can see it taking off here,' he says. 'It's about defining people as individuals and is not about dependency between women and men.'

The Quirkyalone book lists all the wonderful aspects of being single: the surplus energy for work and friends, the power of being alone with your thoughts, the pleasures of daydreaming, and the freedom to do exactly what you want.

Yet the contradiction remains. No matter how much you enjoy being alone, the daydreaming is likely to revolve around meeting someone special. At least this philosophy means no more moping while you wait.