Slow death

My pine tree situated in the front of my home is slowly being strangled by this fast growing variegated Ivy. I'm inclined to cut the Ivy off at the base but once removed it would exposed a rather pathetic and dead looking tree.
It would have been a good idea if some action had been taken before it got to this stage but in my case procrastination is the name of the game.
However, all is not lost as it has become a talking point in my street but one of these days I'll take to it with an axe..