Daughter, my generation is squandering your birthright

[Aurora]

The Guardian - 16/04/12

When my second child reaches my age I fear the NHS, along with the tiger and rhino, will be part of a mythologised arcadia.

Article continues ...

A must read from George Monbiot.

[Lord Beria3]

And why is he having a SECOND child?

Adding a ever greater burden on the worlds resources.

Hyprocrite.

[snow hope]

Are you married LB? Have you got past your twenties yet?

[JavaScriptDonkey]

And why is he having a SECOND child?

Adding a ever greater burden on the worlds resources.

Hyprocrite.

Immortality.

[jonny2mad]

Why not have a third child or half a dozen, we are still bringing in millions of people from the third world so what difference will it make, the UK population wont go down .

[Aurora]

Why not have a third child or half a dozen, we are still bringing in millions of people from the third world so what difference will it make, the UK population wont go down .

Yes, thank you Anders. That'll be quite enough of that if you please.

[emordnilap]

And why is he having a SECOND child?

Adding a ever greater burden on the worlds resources.

Hyprocrite.

Two is fine; just the right number, I'd say. He's setting an example to the rest of the world.

[SleeperService]

Why not have a third child or half a dozen, we are still bringing in millions of people from the third world so what difference will it make, the UK population wont go down .

Yes, thank you Anders. That'll be quite enough of that if you please.

Listening to what's going on in that courtroom the question arises 'How did they decide he was sane?'

BOT I remember my Grandparents telling me what life was like when they were young, that world had disappeared almost completely when they told me about it, what Mr Monbiot is talking about seems very similar in general with detail differences.

What surprises me is that he's got into print with it. Another entry in stating the Bleeding Obvious IMHO. I really think that we'll miss what my grandparents had much more than we realise in the long term.

This government seem even more determined than ToryLite to privatise the NHS so their benefactors can rape the economy a bit harder. Naturally our taxes will stay high so there's more money to support a parasitic class and bail out the Free Market every few years. Remember everybody the bailouts are getting bigger, that money has to come from somewhere.

[re]

And why is he having a SECOND child?

Adding a ever greater burden on the worlds resources.

Hyprocrite.

Oh my god I agree with LB3

[Aurora]

Another entry in stating the Bleeding Obvious IMHO.

Worth pointing out nonetheless because most of the sheeple haven't woken up to reality yet.

[leroy]

And why is he having a SECOND child?

Adding a ever greater burden on the worlds resources.

Hyprocrite.

Oh my god I agree with LB3

D'you remember his missus wrote a piece in the paper about her feelings upon having a first child? It is on this forum somewhere back there. George was probably coerced into it like with the first one, or had very little say in the matter. You ever been in love with a woman Beria? I'm in my mid thirties and have had long relationships break up over my not wanting to have kids. Tbh, I kind of regret my decision in one case as I've never found someone as good and she's now happily married with two kids. I can see myself capitulating next time it happens, and I hope it does because things will be pretty lonely otherwise for the few years that we have left. We've had this discussion on here before, and someonesaid that their relationship would likely be over if they refused to have a 2nd child, and I don't think this is uncommon- its often not that hard for women to find someone more willing.

[Little John]

And why is he having a SECOND child?

Adding a ever greater burden on the worlds resources.

Hyprocrite.

Oh my god I agree with LB3

D'you remember his missus wrote a piece in the paper about her feelings upon having a first child? It is on this forum somewhere back there. George was probably coerced into it like with the first one, or had very little say in the matter. You ever been in love with a woman Beria? I'm in my mid thirties and have had long relationships break up over my not wanting to have kids. Tbh, I kind of regret my decision in one case as I've never found someone as good and she's now happily married with two kids. I can see myself capitulating next time it happens, and I hope it does because things will be pretty lonely otherwise for the few years that we have left. We've had this discussion on here before, and someonesaid that their relationship would likely be over if they refused to have a 2nd child, and I don't think this is uncommon- its often not that hard for women to find someone more willing.

Another major problem is that as times get harder and the state retreats in terms of providing help in old age, the pressure on people to have more kids as an insurance policy for when they get old will only increase. we only have to look at poor, third-world countries (or even this country a century or so back) where there is no state support to see that this is a common reproductive strategy in humans.

A socialistic, equitable and transparent allocation of resources (despite all of the attendant problems of corruption), is the only way we will stand a chance of getting people to forgo large families in the coming crisis (short of forced sterilizations etc and even then this is likely to be necessary).

I'm not even arguing that the above is a plausible strategy. I am merely saying it is the least implausible.

[Totally_Baffled]

Hi Steve

You make a good point reference having kids as an insurance policy. However, its interesting to note this didn't happen in Eastern Europe post the Soviet Union?

I think I am right in saying that birth rates plummeted, and populations in these countries are contracting rapidly (indeed Russia is forecast to drop from 144 million in 2000 to below 100 million in 2050)

Not that the above is a scenario worth looking foward to! It was in effect an economic collapse with a host other horrible issues too!

[Ludwig]

D'you remember his missus wrote a piece in the paper about her feelings upon having a first child? It is on this forum somewhere back there. George was probably coerced into it like with the first one, or had very little say in the matter. You ever been in love with a woman Beria? I'm in my mid thirties and have had long relationships break up over my not wanting to have kids. Tbh, I kind of regret my decision in one case as I've never found someone as good and she's now happily married with two kids. I can see myself capitulating next time it happens, and I hope it does because things will be pretty lonely otherwise for the few years that we have left. We've had this discussion on here before, and someonesaid that their relationship would likely be over if they refused to have a 2nd child, and I don't think this is uncommon- its often not that hard for women to find someone more willing.

All very true. Once you get into your 30s you find that almost all women of your age want children - often quite desperately. My reluctance to start a family is partly why I am single (in addition to being a miserable git, of course).

[Little John]

Hi Steve

You make a good point reference having kids as an insurance policy. However, its interesting to note this didn't happen in Eastern Europe post the Soviet Union?

I think I am right in saying that birth rates plummeted, and populations in these countries are contracting rapidly (indeed Russia is forecast to drop from 144 million in 2000 to below 100 million in 2050)

Not that the above is a scenario worth looking foward to! It was in effect an economic collapse with a host other horrible issues too!

you're right about Russia. However, I would suggest that is because of an increased capacity to migrate to economically more benign territories. In the coming crisis, there will be nowhere for people to go.