I'd hesitate to infer too much or indeed any of it was a consequence of what I wrote (deliberately vague, because a) I don't have a satisfactory solution to hand and b) am a coward), but looking back at subsequent comments to mine in the Newsnight blog referred to in my last post there were some very interesting ones there. And, to my mind, both moderate and balanced too.
Usually such discussion, where it rarely takes place, quickly degenerates into something rather nasty, with anyone making a simple factual point accused of promoting some kind of Final Solution in defence of Lebensraum. Or at best a rather murky set of exchanges on Malthusian theory.
Hence I found what had been written there quite informative and worth pondering, to factor in. It is indeed odd that so many cultures are so worried about population slow down, and its consequences on economic growth, and that they don't seem so concerned with the other side of this: increased consumption, pollution and... well you can see where it leads.
As I say, I don't have ready answers, and hence don't want to go to far 'there'. I have two kids. Is that balance or excess? They are half-Chinese, and that leads to an interesting point. While I'm sure I need to research it a lot more to be sure of my facts, I do believe that in the face of some of the more excitable pro-population expansion (or at least population consequence discussion) censors, this country has quietly been maintaining a policy of control for some time now. I wonder how they did/do it, and why it has attracted so little attention?
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