Huxley always was more prescient than Orwell. Maybe the technocrats of the not too distant future will maintain spaces where the hatchery-born-and-raised masses can look with fascinated horror at those who have rejected modernity, continuing with natural childbirth and the like. There might even be some Complete Works of Shakespeare lying around.
Falling fertility rates, except in Africa, where the population rises 10% a year, and among the non indigenes in Europe, where it is about three times that of the indigenes.
And President Erdogan of Turkey has appealed to Muslim immigrants in the West to have at least five children. He knows that demography is destiny.
Paddy Taylor
5 months ago
In the 1970s Pandas were such a staple feature of news programmes on slow days that the incomparable Miles Kington penned these little lines ..
When there’s no one in the news,
we very often visit zoos
to see the Chinese Pandas chew
some succulent bamboos ……
Wouldn’t it be lovely to return to a world where we had slow enough news days that Producers felt obliged to pad out 5 minutes of their broadcast with footage of some cuddly-looking wildlife?
Last edited 5 months ago by Paddy Taylor
Dougie Undersub
5 months ago
I doubt the pandas sent to N Korea died from mistreatment. I suspect they were eaten. This is, after all, what happened to a small number of giant rabbits sent from E Germany as breeding stock for a new food programme. They were all eaten before they had a chance to breed.
Similar to the giant tortoises that were so tasty they never made it back to the UK “extraordinary large and fat, and so sweet, that no pullet eats more pleasantly”
I agree, it’s hard reproducing in captivity. That said, I think the fall in babies born per women has a number of reasons. The largest might be in the ability to better deal with the unintended. A good way to evaluate such things might be the stats out of the us on unintended births that would have been ended with universal access to end births. Interesting times for sure.
Surely one of the obvious reasons must be that western women seek careers during much or most of their fertile years. When they choose to start a family after the age of 35, or later, they discover that sadly, it may be too late. The other obvious reason is that the men they want to marry refuse to commit themselves.
Clare Knight
5 months ago
Such a well-crafted essay. I enjoyed the twisty path to get to Grandma’s house not knowing what was around the corner. I’m kinda confused that there’s a decline in the birth rate as I thought we were over-populated, and I’ve always found the saying”wherever you go there you are” one of the more powerful aphorisms.
“…We cannot, after all, create nature reserves for ourselves…”
Wanna bet?
Huxley always was more prescient than Orwell. Maybe the technocrats of the not too distant future will maintain spaces where the hatchery-born-and-raised masses can look with fascinated horror at those who have rejected modernity, continuing with natural childbirth and the like. There might even be some Complete Works of Shakespeare lying around.
I agrees – we already have – it’s inside your smartphone.
Gated communities, MaCarthy & Stone?
Falling fertility rates, except in Africa, where the population rises 10% a year, and among the non indigenes in Europe, where it is about three times that of the indigenes.
That’s an unpleasant bit of information, Anna.
And President Erdogan of Turkey has appealed to Muslim immigrants in the West to have at least five children. He knows that demography is destiny.
In the 1970s Pandas were such a staple feature of news programmes on slow days that the incomparable Miles Kington penned these little lines ..
Wouldn’t it be lovely to return to a world where we had slow enough news days that Producers felt obliged to pad out 5 minutes of their broadcast with footage of some cuddly-looking wildlife?
I doubt the pandas sent to N Korea died from mistreatment. I suspect they were eaten. This is, after all, what happened to a small number of giant rabbits sent from E Germany as breeding stock for a new food programme. They were all eaten before they had a chance to breed.
Similar to the giant tortoises that were so tasty they never made it back to the UK “extraordinary large and fat, and so sweet, that no pullet eats more pleasantly”
OMG! Really!
I agree, it’s hard reproducing in captivity. That said, I think the fall in babies born per women has a number of reasons. The largest might be in the ability to better deal with the unintended. A good way to evaluate such things might be the stats out of the us on unintended births that would have been ended with universal access to end births. Interesting times for sure.
Surely one of the obvious reasons must be that western women seek careers during much or most of their fertile years. When they choose to start a family after the age of 35, or later, they discover that sadly, it may be too late. The other obvious reason is that the men they want to marry refuse to commit themselves.
Such a well-crafted essay. I enjoyed the twisty path to get to Grandma’s house not knowing what was around the corner. I’m kinda confused that there’s a decline in the birth rate as I thought we were over-populated, and I’ve always found the saying”wherever you go there you are” one of the more powerful aphorisms.
So….Mary’s pregnant??