While longer life explains partly the new growth figures, it is the amount of new babies being born which is most significant, due to British immigrants’ cultural desire for larger families and mothers having babies well into middle age. Having a larger family can be wonderful, but the days when having many children was desirable because of the high incidence of child mortality are long gone, and now, if the trend continues, some difficult decisions may have to be made, including, possibly, reducing immigration drastically; limiting the number of children in any family by law; reducing further the benefits associated with children; or imposing charges for schooling and child medical care, for example.
Some of these more extreme ideas may seem unacceptable and I am not advocating any of them particularly – but it is necessary, somehow, to ensure the population is affordable, through persuading potential parents, and society, that having more than 3 children, say, is socially and morally inappropriate, perhaps through government action. The state system in the UK gives a high standard of free care to children from the time they are born, and in return it is fair to ask people to be considerate in how they use, or abuse it.
In the end, it comes down to selfishness and thoughtlessness. We are all thoughtless and selfish sometimes, but if we become aware of a better way of being, we can change our habits and learn to do better – like thinking of the needs of Gaia and of others, of fairness, balance and reciprocity, and not just about what
we want.
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Fundamentally, I am impressed that it's a matter of where we focus our attention, Claire. In this instance, where do people focus their attention? To expand our attention as you suggest (to include Gaia, for instance), indicates a path out of the morass you discuss.